Coast Guard job cuts denied

The Department of Transport has denied that any jobs will be lost in its Coast Guard service although an entire layer of management has been removed following a review.

It had been reported that of the 52 positions within the service, nine would be lost at the Coast Guard’s three co-ordination centres at Malin Head, Valentia Island, and Dublin.

The department claims there is no such proposal. “Some changes to working arrangements will be implemented, and a technology enhancement programme initiated. This will allow the three centres to be operated as an integrated unit, providing efficiencies and achieving savings,” it said.

An entire layer of management within the service is, however, being dispensed with. The position of deputy divisional controller, one at each of three coastal stations, is being removed.

The department said: “The previous Coast Guard model had two management positions in each Coast Guard co-ordination centre — a divisional controller and a deputy divisional controller.

“After detailed consideration of the matter, the department concluded that the three deputy divisional commander posts were not essential technical posts, and that one full-time management post in each centre was sufficient.

“In addition, many of the watch officers are in receipt of an allowance to act as station officers during shifts and thus there are already ‘in charge’ posts available to the divisional controller.”

Previously, 46 people were employed as watch officers. However this had fallen to 38 in recent years while the recommended figure is 40. Two additional staff are being recruited.

The current three-man watches at Malin, Valentia, and Dublin will also be reduced to two but the department says this won’t result in job losses either.

Concerns have been raised that the stations can hardly manage as it is with three on duty and will be even further stretched. The department said a two-person watch will be satisfactory.

“A detailed review of the operations of the three co-ordination centres concluded that a staffing level of 40 could fulfil the emergency response requirements in conjunction with the implementation of a dedicated technology programme to assist the inter-operability of the three rescue centres,” the department stated. “It should be noted that at certain times two-person watches are already the norm. The new arrangements are being enabled by very significant improvements in IT.”