Coast Guard changes

Grudaire

Couldn’t see a thread about this anywhere, but I see that there are going to be significant changes to the Coast Guard:

Irish Times wrote:

The Irish Coast Guard has warned that the lives of both rescue staff and volunteers could be put at risk by a reorganisation of maritime safety which was initiated six months ago by Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar.

Documents seen by The Irish Times cite vehement opposition by both the Irish Coast Guard and Marine Survey Office (MSO) to the changes due to be implemented over the next year, which include reducing Donegal’s Malin Head Coast Guard station to a 12-hour watch rather than 24 hours, and cutting coast radio station staff by 18.5 per cent.

See article: Irish Times

This hasn't gotten much coverage, but could be a big deal for maritime safety... Any opinions on it, or are the risks exaggerated?

goldie fish

This has been going in circles for years. Someone in the department wants everything Dublin based. The Coast Guard have (in Chris Reynolds) quite rightly resisted this at every chance. The latest effort is to maintain the current stations in Donegal and Kerry, but by reducing the hours, no new staff will be required. Down the road it will then become easier to close one or both stations outside Dublin.

As for the MSO, with the amount of rustbuckets falling apart on a daily basis at sea and the collapse of the scrap steel price, meaning more will be retained rather than disposed of, the need for regular inspections becomes more vital.
Ideally, all this should be under the Coast Guard umbrella, but again, certain forces are at work to keep this in yet another quango of the old boy network.

Grudaire

Thanks goldie, a lot of stuff I didn't know there..

I'll have to keep an eye on how this develops.