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Parliament today:

Main Chamber:

1430 - Deputy Prime Ministers Questions

Westminster Hall:

11:00am - 12:30pmSir Alan Beith Future provision of helicopters and crew for the Search and Rescue Service
12:30pm - 1:00pmAngus Robertson UK military basing review

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Lick of paint / Iphone with integral GPS / welded undercarriage - away the lads

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Minister of State for the NewEra energy and utility plan Fergus O’Dowd, who is a former Fine Gael transport spokesman, says he intends to raise the issue of the State’s €500 million contract for search and rescue helicopters with Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar this week.

Mr O’Dowd said there appeared to be “significant questions to answer” over the €500 million deal signed by former transport minister Noel Dempsey last year.

The plan to provide a “new generation” of Sikorsky S-92 helicopters for the Irish Coast Guard from 2012 to 2022 hinged on a contract already agreed in Britain with Soteria to privatise its search and rescue service there.

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The contract will involve replacing ageing Sikorsky S-61 helicopters flown by CHC for the Irish Coast Guard with one new and four second-hand Sikorsky S-92 helicopters.

The transfer of the four second-hand Sikorskys, based in Scotland, had been tied into the British privatisation contract timeline. The Department of Transport told The Irish Times this week it had “no reason to believe that the contract will not be fully transitioned by the end of 2013 as allowed for”.

A new Sikorsky S-92A due for delivery to Shannon in December of this year is being built in the US, it has said, and the first milestone payment had been paid as part of the contract terms.

Mr O’Dowd is particularly concerned about the decision not to opt for a fleet of new helicopters, given that the quoted price did not appear to be significantly higher, and he is also focusing on the decision to exclude the Air Corps.

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only one sea king there with the RAF. so how will that help?

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Coastguard helicopter fears
David Ross Highland Correspondent

Share 25 Mar 2011

The union that represents Coastguard staff has warned ministers they must act before the service loses its helicopters.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents Government agency staff such as the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), was reacting after it emerged the operator of the UK’s four coastguard helicopters will begin withdrawing the aircraft next year.

However, there are no plans yet to replace them and industry sources warn time is already running out to find alternatives.

The Herald has learned that the CHC Helicopter company is committed to relocating the four helicopters, currently under contract to the Coastguard in the UK, to Ireland.

It is due to start a €500 million (£437m) contract for search-and-rescue services for the Irish Coastguard in July next year that will run for 10 years, with an option for a further three years.

The Canadian company based its tender for the Irish contract on using the four helicopters currently under contract to the MCA. These are based at Stornoway (Lewis) and Sumburgh (Shetland) as well as at Solent and Portland Coastguard stations in England.

Sumburgh will be the first to go in July 2012 and the last Portland in April 2013.

A new private operator had been due to be in place before then. However, the collapse of the £6 billion privatisation of the UK’s search-and-rescue helicopters last month now means there is no new operator contracted to replace CHC.

While the same is true for the two military search-and-rescue helicopter bases in Scotland, HMS Gannet at Prestwick in Ayrshire and RAF Lossiemouth in Moray (still under threat of closure), they can continue in the meantime. However, there is no such option for the Coastguard helicopters.

A CHC spokesman confirmed it was preparing to withdraw the helicopters contracted to the MCA. He said: “CHC continues to service the UK Interim SAR (search-and-rescue) contract until 2012. At the expiration of the UK Interim SAR contract, four S-92A aircraft will move to Ireland to begin service there. This will be a phased project ending in 2013.

“To date there has been no revision or extension of the Interim SAR contract, therefore there is no plan to replace those aircraft in Scotland.”

However, CHC would be keen to talk to the UK Government about continued coverage.

The MCA directed inquiries to the Department for Transport where a spokesman said: “Ministers are now considering their options with regards future search-and-rescue cover and will provide an update in due course.”

One helicopter pilot who has been flying in Scotland for almost 30 years, mostly in a rescue capacity, said he was astonished.

He said: “Everybody just assumed that CHC would carry on. The Government really doesn’t have much time to get this fixed.

“Normally you are talking about a lead-in time of at least 18 months for a new contract like this. There really have to be two-and-a-half crews for each aircraft – one on, one off and one half for leave cover.

“You have got to find these crews, interview them and train them for whatever aircraft that is going to be used.”

Jeremy Gautrey, PCS negotiations officer, said: “The shambolic end to the tendering process that resulted in the Government having to retender has now potentially left the Coastguard service stranded without the guarantee that it will have sufficient helicopters to carry out search-and-rescue operations when the current helicopters retire.

“PCS is calling on the Government to ensure that the Coastguard continues to have at its disposal sufficient helicopters to mount successful search-and-rescue operations until a new contract is signed and in place.”

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