Fine Gael’s Dr. Liam Twomey is very disappointed and worried that the Department of Transport is planning on downgrading the South East’s Coast Guard Search and Rescue Service. “The plan is to downgrade the 24 hour service to a 12 hour service. The aim seems to be to reduce costs and this move will result in savings of 1 million euro. This is a very small saving when we are talking of giving billions of tax payers’ money to the banks.”
Dr. Twomey added that the other three services in the country at Dublin, Sligo and Shannon will continue to operate on a 24 hour basis. “Given that there are three ports in this area: Cork, Rosslare and Waterford, I question what criteria the Transport Department has used to decide that the South East will be the rescue service that will be downgraded.”
“If a fishing crew gets into trouble when the service is not in operation, who will go to this crew’s rescue? The entire south and south east coasts will have no rescue service. Sligo and Dublin would be too far away to be able to offer a suitable rapid assistance. “
Dr. Twomey also pointed out that time and again, we see this government put cost before saving people’s lives. “However, they do not show such reticence at spending money when it comes to saving the lifestyles of their banker friends.”
Dr. Liam Twomey, Fine Gael Wexford
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