The Labour Party has described the report of the official investigation into the Air Corps Dauphin helicopter crash at Tramore, Co Waterford, as a "serious indictment" of the Department of Defence and senior Air Corps personnel.
The party's spokesman, Mr Jack Wall, said ultimate responsibility must lie with the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, who "has spent much of his term of office squabbling with the Defence Forces, rather than ensuring that they are properly resourced and equipped". Mr Smith is studying the report following his return from the Lebanon, according to a spokeswoman for the Department yesterday. Mr Wall said he intended to raise the findings of the report next week in the Dail.
"The inescapable conclusion to be drawn is that the decision was taken to locate the Dauphin at Waterford Regional Airport from July 1st, 1999, in order to meet political commitments given by the Government, without adequate support infrastructure being put in place to ensure that the crew could perform their duties safely and effectively," he said. "The failure to ensure that a dedicated full-time safety officer was appointed in the Air Corps, as recommended two years earlier in the PriceWaterhouse report, is particularly inexplicable."
The report's release has done nothing to ease tensions between the military and the Department of Defence. The Department's failure to reach an agreement with Waterford Airport on certain facilities and call-out allowances is identified as one of the systemic findings; the report notes the Air Corps senior management was "unaware" that certain facilities requested by it at Waterford, through the Department of Defence, had not been arranged.
The Department of the Marine and Natural Resources said yesterday it was studying the findings and would undertake a thorough review where necessary. It acknowledged the need for formal service agreements as recommended in the report, but said its personnel involved in tasking, search and rescue assets were subject to continuous training.
The report notes that the detachment commander on the night in question had been contacted to stand down the mission before take-off, when the Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre was able to instruct the casualty vessel on how to operate the marine band VHF radio on board. However, after further discussion, it was decided to go ahead.
