Chill - I was joking about them being knackered!
This is what is being said in the Irish Times:
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.
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.