Shortage of pilots affects rescue plans

The Minister for the Marine, Dr Woods, has been forced to renege on a commitment to employ only Air Corps crew for extended east coast search and rescue due to a severe shortage of pilots. Discontent over Defence Forces pay and conditions and general low morale have resulted in a staffing crisis within both the Air Corps and Naval Service.

Nine Air Corps pilots will leave this year for more lucrative jobs in the private sector, and at least seven are expected go to within the next year. A £10,000-a-head incentive scheme intended to try and persuade them to stay has already backfired on the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith.

As a result, a request by Dr Woods for seven Air Corps pilots for the new Sikorsky, which has been commissioned by the Irish Marine Emergency Service to ensure 24-hour cover on the Irish Sea and east coast from next July, has been turned down.

Instead, the Air Corps will provide five of the seven pilots and seven of the eight rear-end or winch crew for the £14 million five-year contract, which has been awarded to the Scottish company, Bond Helicopters.

The Sikorsky will be based temporarily at Dublin Airport and all of the engineers will be civilian. Bond Helicopters already holds the contract for medium-range search and rescue on the west coast - a service staffed purely by civilian pilots based at Shannon.

The Air Corps Dauphin at Finner Camp in Co Donegal provides cover on the north-west coast.

The incentive scheme, which was initiated by the former Minister for Defence, Mr Andrews, to try and stem the flow from the Air Corps, has been judged to be divisive and has been effectively rejected by the pilots. Offers were made to selected staff only - earning the scheme the nickname, "Schindler's List"- and without prior consultation with the representative organisations.

"The money is not the issue, as pilots can always earn more elsewhere. We are just not happy with the way the scheme was introduced," Commdt Brian O'Keeffe of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers said yesterday. The association has sought to negotiate with the Government on a long-term solution, and believes that pilots should not have to wait a year before leaving the service.

The organisation is still waiting for the long-promised Price Waterhouse review of both the Air Corps and Naval Service, which was commissioned in June 1996 and which was then expected to take three months. The review ran into difficulties over limited terms of reference, and new terms were issued in September.

These will take account of medium and longer-term State requirements for sea and air support in fishery protection, search and rescue, drug interdiction, aid to the civil power and to the civil community. A report is due to be submitted to the Taoiseach's office next month.

Meanwhile, there has been a constant drip-feed from both defence wings, which the new Government has done little to alleviate in spite of pre-election promises.

"In an ideal world, the Air Corps should be in a position to provide complete search and rescue, and to meet other commitments," Commdt O'Keeffe said. "The reality is that the price is too high to pay."

The Department of the Marine is known to be concerned that a proposed relocation of an Air Corps Dauphin to the south-south-east coast next year will also be affected by the crisis, while the Garda Siochana's new flying capability and other demands, such as fishery protection, may also be affected in the future. The extended east coast search-and-rescue cover was initiated by the previous Minister for the Marine, Mr Sean Barrett, after the death of a fisherman off Howth harbour two years ago. The lack of night-time helicopter cover on the east coast was highlighted at the time of the incident, and Mr Barrett promised to alleviate the situation by the end of this year.

It is estimated that up to 25 million people cross the Irish Sea annually.

In June, however, it was announced that there would be a delay until 1998 due to a dispute over the use of a civilian aircraft at Baldonnel military aerodrome.

Last week's Budget Estimates provided for a 34 per cent increase in marine safety funding, to £10.375 million. The figure underpins further development for the Irish Marine Emergency Service, which was established by Dr Woods in his first term as Marine Minister.