Over 20 million people cross the Irish Sea every year. This is one of the most interesting statistics to emerge from the Government's review group report on east coast search and rescue, which was published by the Minister for the Marine, Mr Barrett, last week. The report has recommended a £19 million plan for improvements. In giving the background, it did not have to spell out why. Now known as the "central corridor", this stretch of water was once an infamous ships' graveyard, before the industrial age revolutionised transport worldwide. Even new technology's impact on navigation and weather forecasting has not always led to improved safety. An analysis of increasing air and sea traffic indicates that there is a potential for serious accident, and that it is more than good fortune that this has not occurred before now.
Established by the Minister last January, two months after the death of a Wexford fisherman off Howth, the east coast review group was charged with a full assessment of existing cover. The helicopter service available at the time of the death of Timmy Currid, crewman on the Scarlet Buccaneer, in mid November 1995, was unavailable for night flying. An RAF helicopter was scrambled from Wales, but was too late to save the fisherman. In that same week, six fishermen were lost off Donegal in the Carrickatine - bringing to 19 the number of fishermen who lost their - lives off these coasts last year.
Much of the content of this new report echoes a previous Government review of search and rescue, carried out by former Garda Commissioner, Mr Eamon Doherty, and commissioned after the highly successful 1989-1990 campaign by a Donegal fishing skipper's wife, Joan McGinley. Indeed, this report notes that some £35.5 million has been invested by the State in improved safety since 1990. Among the main changes have been provision of a medium range search and rescue helicopter at Shannon, and establishment of an Irish Marine Emergency Service (IMES) as a wing of the Department of the Marine in Dublin. An Air Corps Dauphin helicopter was also deployed to Finner Camp, Co Donegal.
The voluntary Royal National Life Boat Institution (RNLI) has matched this commitment with significant improvements in its cover around the coastline - in such areas as Fenit, Co Kerry and Achill, Co Mayo. Coast and cliff rescue units, and community inshore rescue services, run once again by volunteers, have been upgraded. That there was still a gaping vacuum on the east coast may not have been so apparent, given the range of the Shannon helicopter, the extent of the RNLI service and the availability of the RAF.
The Minister intends to plug this gap, expressing his "determination" to have a medium range helicopter based in Dublin within the next year, at a cost of £3 million to £4 million annually - depending on the extent to which the Air Corps is involved. The existing Air Corps cover at Baldonnel may be redeployed to the south/south east coast. Other recommendations include establishment of a marine coastal response unit at Howth harbour and improved marine radio communications.
The estimated bill of £19 million over five years raises one question: is maximum use being made of existing resources? The Irish Marine Emergency Service (IMES) has made impressive strides, but appears to favour use of private contractors, rather than State funded organisations, to fulfil international safety obligations. So there has been no effort to fulfil a key recommendation in the 1990 Doherty report to acquire medium range helicopters for the Air Corps - a move which might have made better economic sense in the long term.