Rescue services must get more resources

UNLESS weather conditions deteriorated dramatically overnight a major sea search is underway off our north west coast.

The navy, the coast guard, gardaí, RNLI, civil defence members, local fishermen and volunteers will search waters from Achill Island off Mayo to Aranmore Island, Donegal, to try to find helicopter crewmen Ciarán Smith, 38, and Paul Ormsby, 53, who have been missing since their Rescue 116 helicopter crashed into Black Rock island in the early hours of March 14. This will be the 26th day of the search and an area of about 1,000km squared will be searched.

The funerals of their colleagues Captain Dara Fitzpatrick and Captain Mark Duffy have already taken place.

Their helicopter crashed during a rescue mission undertaken because the Air Corps were unable to provide ‘top cover’ to another helicopter, Rescue 118, as it took part in an operation to remove a fisherman with a moderate injury from a trawler. The Defence Forces said they were unable to provide the service due to “a loss of experienced personnel, both aircrew and air traffic control”.

It has also emerged that two Air Corps maritime patrol planes could not support the search ongoing since March 14 because of “scheduled maintenance”. The Defence Forces use two CASA CN235 Maritime Patrol aircraft but both are grounded because of routine work. One has been out of service since February 20 and will not be available until early June. The Defence Forces have said that the aircraft’s manufacturer, based in Spain, is doing work which is mandatory every 18 months. This means that this aircraft is out of action for more than three months in every 18. This seems extraordinary by any criteria. The second aircraft began scheduled maintenance on March 20 and was to return to service yesterday. Safety is paramount so maintenance cannot be long-fingered but tragically it seems that fate and coincidence have conspired and four lives have been lost.

The tragedy underlines how threadbare our rescue services are and how important it is to improve them. This is an unavoidable responsibility, one highlighted by Rescue 116 and the fact that we are surrounded by water and that the next sea tragedy is as inevitable as a turning tide. Imagine if, say, one of the many ferries plying their trade off our coast was in difficulty and we could not provide essential support because aircraft were grounded for maintenance? How could we explain to the world — or the families of those whose lives might be in jeopardy or lost — that we do not have cover for these entirely predictable absences from service? The loss of life is always tragic but it is tragic too that this service failure is another symptom of our capacity to pretend actions do not have consequences. Those who oppose water charges, for instance, would be offended if their position was linked to weak air and sea rescue services but pretending that the State can deliver a consumption-driven service without charging for it will always mean that Government is limited in what it can provide elsewhere. All the fine talk about the heroism of the Rescue 116 crew will ring just a little hollow until we accept that and, accordingly, accept our responsibilities.