Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan has said his department will cover “reasonable legal expenses” incurred by the families of the four Rescue 116 air crew who died off North Mayo in relation to a review of the draft final Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) report.

In a statement issued this Thursday evening, Mr Ryan said he had written to the families of the crew of R116 that afternoon.

He said he had “ let them know that the Department of Transport will cover their reasonable legal expenses incurred as a result of the Review into the accident in which their loved ones lost their lives”.

Pilots Dara Fitzpatrick and Mark Duffy and winch team Paul Ormsby and Ciarán Smith died when their Sikorsky S-92 crashed at Blackrock island off north Mayo in the early hours of March 14th, 2017.

The four crew were employed by CHC Ireland which holds the Irish Coast Guard search and rescue contract.

The AAIU issued a preliminary and interim reports, and sent its draft final report to “interested parties” in September 2019 with a 60-day window for submissions and comments.

However, in March 2020, former transport minister permitted the establishment of a review board to examine certain findings in the draft final report before publication, following a request from one of the parties.

A review board, chaired by senior counsel Patrick McCann, was established under Regulation 16 of Air Navigation Regulations 2009.

The Irish Airline Pilots Association and European Cockpit Association were critical of this decision as being against the international norm, which seeks to ensure investigations are published within a timeframe to improve safety.

The AAIU does not apportion blame, and this was the first time its draft final report had been subject to such a review.

Earlier this week, RTÉ Investigates reported that three of the four families were obliged to pay for their own legal representation in the review which had been sought by the air crews’ employer, CHC Ireland, and had incurred substantial costs.

Ryan said that “the chairman of the Review board wrote to me with a recommendation that the reasonable legal costs of the families be covered”.

“I was happy to accept this recommendation and asked my officials to work on a mechanism to resolve the issue,” he said.

“The families of the crew did not ask for the review and were placed in a position of having to contribute to a complex process to ensure their loved ones’ interests were fully represented,”Ryan said.

“While the Department of Transport argued before the review board that it did not have authority to make an order on costs, this was done because of the broader implications that such a ruling might have in future,” he said.

“ This was never intended to imply a reluctance to pay these costs, and the additional stress this may have caused is regretted,” he said.

“In writing to the families, I am also conscious that they will shortly receive the final report of the investigation into the accident, a moment which is bound to be difficult for all concerned,” he said.

“Today we remember the service of pilot Dara Fitzpatrick, co-pilot Mark Duffy, winchman Ciarn Smith and winch operator Paul Ormsby who gave their lives in the courageous pursuit of protecting others,” Ryan said.

The new Irish Coast Guard Volunteers Representative Association will be announced on Saturday at a meeting in Kilkee, Co.Clare.

It is the first association established to represent Coast Guard volunteers and its organisers say it consists of existing and former volunteers from around the coast.

There has been controversy over allegations by Coast Guard volunteers at several locations of "poor treatment" and of disciplinary action following any disagreement with management over operational issues.

Management has denied the allegations and pointed to the introduction of new systems and reforms.

The new Association will be asking for the issues to be addressed by the Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, under whose Department the Coast Guard operates.

It says it will work with Coast Guard Management to "provide a high-quality emergency service which always provides the best response for those who are in need of assistance" and that it wants to "promote the health, safety and well-being of volunteers within Irish Coast Guard Units, to promote openness, fairness and transparency within IRCG Units in the interaction between volunteers and Management"

In the early evening of Saturday, 2nd October, Belfast Coastguard put out a MAYDAY in response to a 20ft yacht with four people on board reportedly taking on water and without power, a mile north of Corsewall Point, at the mouth of Loch Ryan on the southwest coast of Scotland.

The Stena Superfast VIII, the ro-ro/passenger ferry between Belfast and Cairnryan on Loch Ryan, passed and responded. They launched their fast rescue craft and stood by the vessel until the arrival of Portpatrick and Stranraer RNLI lifeboats. The craft was assisted to Stranraer marina by the lifeboats.

Belfast Coastguard, with Headquarters in Bangor on Belfast Lough, coordinates Search and Rescue for Northern Ireland, Southwest Scotland and North West England. They commented, "We are very grateful for the swift and professional response from Superfast VIII and at no time was the ferry or its passengers or crew in any danger".

The outgoing head of the Irish Coast Guard Chris Reynolds has said he has nothing against the Air Corps returning to search and rescue if it can guarantee it is available “24/7”.

In an interview with The Sunday Independent, Reynolds, who is head of the European Union Capacity Building Mission in Somalia, confirmed that the Department of Transport turned down his application for extended leave of absence to September 2022.

Last week, he confirmed he was leaving the Irish Coast Guard to stay on as head of the EU mission in Somalia.

Reynolds, a former Naval Service officer who was appointed to head the Irish Coast Guard in 2007, was seconded to Somalia with the EU in July 2016.

However, he spent 15 months back in Ireland with the Coast Guard after the Rescue 116 crash in March 2017, and before his promotion from deputy to director of the EU mission in 2019.

“I knew I had to come home – it was a traumatic time for the families of the four aircrew and for everyone in the Irish Coast Guard,” he said.

Reynolds said that relations between him and the department were so poor that he was initially prevented from visiting Irish Coast Guard stations on his own without a civil servant.

Reynolds said that he had argued as far back as 2011/12 for more resources for the Irish Coast Guard.

“I had identified that the organisation was deficient in health and safety, in resources and aviation expertise, and all of these areas have now been addressed,” he said.

“After the helicopter crash, the department had the stark choice of resourcing it or closing it down.”

“The case I had made for extra staff and funding was granted, and I am happy that I was able to put the Irish Coast Guard back together again,” he said.

As part of its fleet, the Air Corps currently operates two Casa CN 235 Maritime Patrol Aircraft. These aircraft entered service in 1994 and operate seven days a week usually in the offshore maritime patrol arena. Photo: Air Corps

Reynolds said he also approached the then Tánaiste Simon Coveney about merging the Irish Coast Guard with the Naval Service.

Since the Government began plans for a new search and rescue contract for the Irish Coast Guard, Reynolds has been critical publicly of the Air Corps bid to become involved.

The Air Corps was withdrawn from search and rescue in 2004. At the time, its crews were based in Sligo, with three other search and rescue bases run on contract.

Currently, all four bases are contracted to CHC Ireland, and a service level agreement with the Air Corps is for aircraft “as and when available”.

Late last month, the Government signalled it would proceed with formal procurement for a new contract in October, and indicated that the Air Corps could provide a fixed-wing element to the Coast Guard’s overall aviation service.

“The point is that the Air Corps has to be able to guarantee it is there 24/7, 365 days a year,” Reynolds said.

In March 2017, the Air Corps was not able to provide a Casa maritime patrol aircraft when it was asked to provide top cover for the Sligo-based Irish Coast Guard helicopter in a medical evacuation 250 km west of Mayo.

The Dublin-based Rescue 116 crew was then tasked to provide top cover and crashed at Blackrock island – claiming the lives of all four crew, two of whom are still missing.

Read The Sunday Independent here

The rescue of cousins Sara Feeney (23) and Ellen Glynn (17) after being swept out to sea on paddleboards captured the attention of the country last August. How a balmy summer's evening quickly turned into a nightmare for the cousins' parents onshore, to the quick-witted reaction of the two women to lash the boards together, to the fishermen who realised the initial search was too focused on inner Galway Bay.

A story of endurance as Sara and Ellen survived 15 hours at sea, and the tears of relief among hundreds of volunteers searching the Galway and Clare coastlines and in Galway RNLI lifeboat station, where the volunteer crews have recovered more bodies than most of them care to remember.

When 23-year old NUI Galway graduate Sara Feeney and her 17-year old cousin Ellen Glynn set out for a short spin on paddleboards one evening in mid-August 2020, they only expected to be on the water for a short time.

Covid-19 restrictions had prevented them from going to their closest beach at Silver Strand on north Galway Bay, so they drove out with Sara's mum Helen to Furbo beach, 12 km west of Galway city.

There were swimmers in the water, enjoying the heat in fading light as they pumped up the inflatable boards and took to the water at around 9.30pm.

Sara's mum Helen walked her dog, Otis, along the short shoreline. Within a short space of time she wondered why she couldn't see the cousins on the water.

Little did she know at that time that the two women were shouting and frantically waving their paddles, unable to make it back to shore.

The northerly breeze had turned north-easterly and gained in strength, and the two women had no means of communication – Ellen had forgotten her wet bag that normally carried her mobile phone. They were wearing lifejackets, but no wetsuits – only bikinis – and had no food or water.

Realising they were in danger of being separated, the two women strapped their boards together. Back on shore, Helen Feeney had dialled the emergency services and had been put through to the Irish Coast Guard.

For a time, the two women remained confident that they would be located and were initially only worried about all the trouble they would have caused. As darkness fell and the hours passed, they spotted boats and a helicopter coming close enough to light up the sea around them, but in the vast sea area, they could neither be seen nor heard.

Shooting stars and bioluminescence lifted their spirits briefly, and Ellen sang every Taylor Swift song that she knew. Conditions worsened, with heavy rain. When a lightning storm forced an Irish Coast Guard helicopter to fly off to the north, they knew they would have to try and survive the night. By now, they were clinging to their boards in a heavy swell.

As the fog lifted well after dawn, they realised just how much trouble they were in, with the Cliffs of Mother just south of them, the Aran island of Inis Oírr to the north, and the Atlantic to the west.

They had been carried all of 18 nautical miles or 33 kilometres diagonally across Galway Bay and out into the ocean. A chance sighting of floats attached to crab pots set by Aran fisherman Bertie Donohue saved them from drifting further.

When they were located by Galway fisherman Patrick Oliver and his son Morgan in their catamaran, Johnny Ó, the two women had been the focus of a major air/sea search co-ordinated by Valentia Coast Guard and had spent 15 hours at sea. "We found them, but they saved themselves," Patrick Oliver would say later.

Fishermen Patrick Oliver and his son Morgan located the girls

This documentary features interviews with Sara Feeney and Ellen Glynn and their families one year on, speaking also to key people involved in their rescue, recalling how a balmy evening turned into a long, dark terrifying 15 hours that will be remembered as the miracle of Galway Bay.

Narrated by Lorna Siggins

Produced by Lorna Siggins and Sarah Blake

Sound Supervision by John Doyle and Peadar Carney

Available for podcast on Thursday 29th July

Broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 on Sunday 1st August @ 6pm, Monday 2nd August @ 3pm, and Tuesday 3rd August @ 10pm

The government today (27 July 2021) agreed to commence the formal procurement process for a new Coast Guard aviation service in October next. The service is currently contracted to CHC Ireland and may be extended up to June 2025 at the latest. The decision was based on a detailed appraisal and business case prepared by KPMG for the Department of Transport, and was brought to Government by the Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, T.D.

The business case brought to Government set out the strategic case for a new service, considered the range of options for how such a service could be delivered, including the potential for the Air Corps to provide an element of the service as a “hybrid” option alongside another civil operator. It also sets out an implementation plan to achieve the desired service.

The detailed appraisal included a financial and economic appraisal of short-listed options, with an assessment of costs, benefits, affordability, deliverability, risks and sensitivities associated with the options. The approval of the business case is one of the key steps required in the Public Spending Code (PSC). Details of the procurement will be announced in October when the formal Pre-Qualification requirements for tendering will be published.

Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan T.D proceeding to tender based on a business case

Commenting on the decision, Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan T.D. said: “After a lengthy deliberative process, I am glad we now have a decision to proceed to tender based on a business case which has considered all relevant aspects involved including its core SAR role but also the important secondary benefits to be derived from the service including supports to the island communities and the Health Service Executive. The report considered all the various options for how the service can be best delivered, the demand drivers and the changing technological and market environment in which this procurement will be set. This is a costly but vital service to the State and it is important that we optimise the benefits to be derived from it”.

The Minister for Defence and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney, T.D welcomed the decision and the fact that it provides for the possibility of the Air Corps providing a new fixed wing element as part of the Coast Guard’s overall aviation service: “My Department and the Air Corps, working in close consultation with the Irish Coast Guard over the next two and a half months, will look at how the Air Corps might provide a dedicated fixed wing element of the service which meets the requirements and parameters which are now clearly set out in the business case”.

Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton T.D. also welcomed the decision and thanked those stakeholders across the SAR system and the relevant Departments and state entities who have informed the deliberations on this process to date. “The decision paves the way for the procurement of this vital element of our Search and Rescue system over a 10 year period. The timelines and procurement strategy agreed today will ensure a seamless transition from the existing contract with CHCI. It will also offer the potential to avail of developments in technology since the last contract was let in 2010 and to build on the experience and lessons learnt over the last 10 years.”

She added: “The process of consultation and deliberation started over 18 months ago and has included extensive discussions with state and voluntary organisations involved and reliant to one degree or another on the Irish Coast Guard’s aviation service. Their views have helped to inform and shape the scope and nature of the new service which KPMG’s business case has appraised and costed”.

The formal procurement documentation will describe the expectations and requirements for the pre-qualification stage of the procurement. This will be published by end October next when the formal procurement is launched.

Based on the business case analysis, the new service is expected to benefit from some new elements including a dedicated fixed-wing component to provide the IRCG with an on-call pollution monitoring, high endurance search and top cover capability. It also has the potential to allow a more innovative helicopter fleet. The helicopter element will include night vision capability from the outset. From a competitive perspective, the procurement will benefit from a more extensive range of potential helicopter solutions than would have been on the market in 2010.

The current service already provides significant secondary services to the HSE and the National Ambulance Services and medical evacuation services to the island communities. The service scoped in the business case will continue to deliver these ancillary services and has the potential to deliver more supports to the HSE and additional fire-fighting capability to the Department of Housing / Fire Services. These aspects will be subject to further discussion with those services as the procurement strategy advances.

The cost of the existing contract is in the region of €60m a year. The analysis concludes that the estimated costs for a new service could be similar although the precise costings set out in the business case are premised on a number of different assumptions and based on a different model to the current one. The costings are confidential and commercially sensitive. The actual cost will only be known once the tenders have been received, evaluated and Government awards the tender – expected to be in March 2023.

Bangor Coastguard Rescue Team didn't have far to travel to answer a report today (21st June) of a vessel aground on the rocks at Brompton on the opposite side of Bangor Bay from the Belfast Lough station.

Winds were strong from the North with rough seas and breaking waves.

The team managed to contact the owner, who arrived a short time later.

All belongings, engine and fuel were removed from the vessel by the owner, and the hope was that it could be refloated at the next high tide.

In early June, an inflatable kayak that had been seen washed onto rocks at Orlock near Groomsport on the North Down coast sparked a full search of the area by Bangor Coastguard Rescue Team, Portaferry CRT, the Donaghadee Saxon Lifeboat and the Bangor B Class Atlantic 8 Lifeboat.

The kayak was in very good condition and had not been there for long. On arrival at the location, the team took photographs and sent them to Belfast Coastguard after which a full search was requested.

Belfast Coastguard also made a Facebook appeal for the owner and as the search unfolded the owner was located safe and well. The kayak had been lost earlier in the evening due to an incident, but no one was injured.

The team took the kayak back to the car park for collection by the owner who was given advice. Bangor CRT emphasises, " If you lose an object in or near the sea report it to the Coastguard. Thanks to the members of the public that rang 999".

Dunmore East RNLI lifeboat in County Waterford launched yesterday (Sunday, June 6) to a report of a 4m angling vessel with four people on-board, which had lost its propeller and was drifting onto Falskirt Rock, three miles South West of Dunmore East.

At 1:30 pm the Dunmore East RNLI lifeboat launched at the request of the Irish Coast Guard to assist a 4m vessel that was in danger of going onto rocks. The boat with four people on board was located drifting only 50m from Falskirt Rock.

12 mins after launch the Trent Class Dunmore East RNLI lifeboat ‘Elizabeth and Ronald’ arrived on scene to find the vessel with four people onboard, close to going aground. The volunteer RNLI crew quickly got all four transferred to the lifeboat and took the vessel under tow back to the safety of Dunmore East harbour at 2:30 pm.

Karen Harris, RNLI Deputy Launch Authority for Dunmore East RNLI, said: ‘Conditions were good today and thankfully all four were wearing life jackets, they did the right thing in calling for help early. The area around Falskirt Rock can be very dangerous, so a speedy response by our volunteer crew ensured a safe recovery of the four people. I would like to remind people that the water is there to be enjoyed but please remember to always wear a lifejacket, have a means of calling for help, check the weather forecast and be sure to tell someone where you are going and when you will be back. If you see someone in trouble on the water dial 999 or 112 and ask for the Coast Guard’.

Valentia RNLI volunteers in county Kerry launched their all-weather lifeboat yesterday (Saturday 05 June) to assist a 43ft fishing vessel with three people on board, which required assistance.

At 08.55 am the Valentia Coast Guard requested Valentia RNLI’s volunteer crew to launch the all-weather lifeboat and to go to the aid of three people on board the fishing vessel, with a fouled propeller close to the rocks at the Blasket Islands. Weather conditions at the time were described as good visibility, a two-metre swell with a force two to three southerly wind.

At the location, the RNLI crew came alongside the vessel to assess the situation and moved the vessel to a safer location. The crew ensured all occupants on board were safe. After initially trying to defoul the vessel it was decided the best option was to set up a tow. The vessel was then towed safely back to Valentia Marina.

The Valentia RNLI lifeboat towing the fishing vessel to Valentia Marina

Speaking following the call out, Colum O’Connell Valentia RNLI Lifeboat Operational Manager said: Although the crew on board the fishing vessel were experienced, they knew it was the right decision to call for help to prevent the situation from getting worse'.