Warning on coastguard service cuts
Warning after the Government's decision to scale back a coastguard helicopter service
Monday March 15 2010
Fishermen have warned of tragedies at sea after the Government's decision to scale back a coastguard helicopter service.
Waterford search and rescue base will be reduced to a daylight operation under cost-saving plans from the Department of Transport.
But the Irish Fishermen's Organisation (IFO) said downgrading the south-east service could mean the difference between life and death.
"I think it's absolutely scandalous to think that any government would even contemplate this - it's beyond belief," IFO chairman Ebbie Sheehan said.
"Maybe they're going to wait for a fatality and reassess the situation. That's fair enough but it goes to show that value it puts on fishermen's lives."
The Department of Transport said an unnamed preferred bidder has been chosen to supply the new search and rescue contract service.
A spokeswoman for the department said no further details would be given of the contract until the tender process is completed.
The three other centres in Dublin, Sligo and Shannon will remain as 24-hour services while the south-east helicopter will have its hours halved by 2013.
The IFO's Co Waterford-based secretary Caitlin Ui Aodha said local fishermen are mystified over why their service was chosen for the cutbacks.
