Minister of State for Transport Hildegarde Naughton said the Government is "absolutely committed" to maintaining a search and rescue base at Waterford when she paid tribute to CHC Ireland air crew for the rescue of seven fishermen off the south-west coast last year.
Winchman Sarah Courtney received a CHC “Excellence Service” award from Irish Coast Guard acting director Eugene Clonan for her role in the saving seven fishermen from the Ellie Ádhamh 70 nautical miles west of Bantry Bay near Bull Rock on March 27th, 2021.
Ms Courtney, from Bishopstown, Co Cork, has already received a silver medal in last year’s national bravery awards, and her colleagues Ronan Flanagan and Adrian O’Hara, from CHC Waterford base, and Aaron Hyland, from CHC Shannon base, were awarded certificates of bravery.
The event last Friday also marked 20 years of CHC Ireland providing helicopter search and rescue services for the Irish Coast Guard from Waterford.
The Irish Coast Guard’s Waterford helicopter search and rescue base was initiated as a daytime service run by the Air Corps from July 1998, and was upgraded to a 24-hour base from July 1st, 1999.
On the base’s first night mission, all four Air Corps crew on board Rescue 111 – Capt Dave O’Flaherty, Capt Mick Baker, and winch crew Sgt Paddy Mooney and Cpl Niall Byrne - lost their lives when their Dauphin crashed off Tramore on return from a rescue mission.
The late CHC Ireland pilot Capt Dara Fitzpatrick, who died in the Rescue 116 helicopter crash off north Mayo in March 2017, was one of the early senior pilots to work at Waterford after the contract was awarded to the private company.
"We are a team and none of us could do the job we do without all of us working together"
At the presentation to Ms Courtney last week, Robert Tatten of CHC Ireland praised the commitment of CHC crews “to ongoing and continuous training to fine-tune their already immense skills”.
“CHC are proud to play a small part in the greater service provided by the Irish Coast Guard to the people of Ireland,” Mr Tatten said.
“We only get to 20 years in Waterford because of a full team approach, not just us in CHC Ireland but all of those who interact and support us, to name just a few, the Irish Coast Guard, RNLI, Mountain Rescue, Simtech (our training partner), Irish Aviation Authority, An Garda Síochána and all other emergency services,” he said.
Ms Courtney stated “ that she was accepting the award on behalf of all the crew who took part in the mission”.
“We are a team and none of us could do the job we do without all of us working together. I was only enabled to carry out the rescue because of the commitment and professionalism of all the guys on board Rescue 117 that day,” she said.
Waterford Airport managing director Aidan Power said that “over the years it has been a matter of great pride to all of us in Waterford Airport that Rescue 117 has been based here”.
“The operation and crews are now part of the fabric of Waterford, and the rescue helicopter is a reassuring sight for the people of the south-east,” Mr Power said.
In her speech, Ms Naughton said that “at a gathering like this, it would be remiss of me not to recall the loss of R116 in March 2017”.
“I know how devastating it has been for you all to lose colleagues in such a tragic way. The families of Dara Fitzpatrick, Paul Ormsby, Mark Duffy and Ciaran Smith are often in my thoughts as I work alongside the Coast Guard,”she said.
“In July 1999 this area experienced a similar helicopter accident when the four crew of Air Corps Rescue 111 lost their lives on the dunes off Tramore,”Ms Naughton said. “Today we also remember Mick Baker, Paddy Mooney, Dave O’Flaherty and Niall Byrne.”
“On any given year, CHC Ireland conduct approximately 850 flights on behalf of the Coast Guard,”she continued.
“Government recognises the value of this service, and last July decided that on conclusion of the current contract a new contract should be put in place following an open tendering competition,”she said.
“This procurement process is well underway. It is intended that the contract will include a fixed wing aircraft, thereby enhancing the resilience of the service, enabling the Coast Guard to deliver on its two primary roles of search and rescue and pollution / ship casualty monitoring,”Ms Naughton said.