The International Transport Workers' Federation has queried the Government's decision not to proceed with the Sikorski helicopter deal, as part of the spending cutbacks demanded by the Department of Finance. The acquisition of the Sikorskis would have added significantly to the Air Corps's operational strength, enhancing the State's search and rescue capacity.
The ITF represents 600 unions around the world and includes thousands of seafarers and airline workers among its members. Many of these could find themselves in an emergency situation within Irish territorial waters or airspace. ITF's interest in Ireland's rescue services therefore is not an abstract thing. ITF's inspector, Mr Tom Ayton, said before the weekend that Ireland's services are "embarrassing" when compared with those of other countries.
The Minister of State at the Department of the Marine, Mr John Browne, rejected Mr Ayton's criticisms. The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith claimed the Government is committed to improving coastal safety services. But every member of the Air Corps and every member of every lifeboat crew knows that the cancellation of the medium-lift Sikorskis will leave helicopter-based emergency services stretched to the absolute limit and probably beyond.
Increasingly, Ireland appears to become a place where it is especially unwise to become ill or to encounter any misadventure. The accident and emergency rooms in the hospitals are scandalously overworked and under-resourced. Ireland alone in the EU has no helicopter borne emergency medical service to attend at roadway crashes or similar incidents. Long range search and rescue in certain cases continues to depend on the willingness of the Royal Air Force to send its personnel and machines into Irish airspace and over Irish waters.
The State's finances are not in the best of shape and great stringency will be imposed over coming months in order to balance the books. But the sum of €40 million in question for the Sikorskis is relatively small in the overall context of the national budget. ITF has suggested - possibly facetiously - that if the Government sold Farmleigh House or disposed of it on a lease and buy-back basis it could free up sufficient cash to go ahead with the helicopters. That is an unlikely scenario. Nonetheless, it puts the issue in cost perspective. The other side of the equation is the saving of human lives.