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Editorial: Playing politics could
cost lives
11.02.08
SOMEONE is playing
politics with the fate of Malin Head Coast Guard
station.
On the one hand, we have a €140,000 report in 2003
recommending that the best option for the future of
the Irish Coast Guard Service would be to upgrade and
expand the existing marine rescue centres in Malin
Head and Valentia.
Five years on however, and it appears that the
Government has done a complete about-turn and has
decided that it is best to scrap Malin Head and
Valentia and build two brand new centres - one on
the east coast at Drogheda and one at a location on
the west coast.
It doesn't seem to matter that Malin Head and
Valentia are currently Ireland's nerve centres of
marine rescue operations- and are doing a very fine
job thank you very much. |
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It doesn't seem to
matter that Malin Head and Valentia are already
kitted out with state-of-the-art equipment that can
pin-point the co-ordinates of a drowning fisherman,
despite strong winds and high seas, so that the
lifeboat and helicopter crews can reach him as soon
as possible.
No... best to scrap it all...throw |
away more than 100
years of hard-earned expertise and reputation for a
brand new centre in that renowned maritime heartland
- Drogheda! And with that comment, absolutely no
disrespect is intended to the decent people of Co
Louth.
Any sensible-thinking person who sees first-hand
what Malin Head Coast Guard has to offer would agree
it's a crazy idea to throw it all away.
You only have to look at the map to see that the
busy Irish sea is not only a relatively narrow
channel but also well covered in terms of marine
communications from Malin Head, Valentia and Dublin
and telecommunications operators in Britain.
Alternatively, look at the west along the vast
stretch of Atlantic, and you easily see the need to
keep Valentia and Malin Head as centres of
excellence.
In the interests of balance let's see look at what
the alternative report says. It criticises Malin
Head's communication and electricity problems.
It says Ireland's Search and Rescue process relies
on clear, effective and reliable communications and
is therefore ultimately dependent on the performance
of Coast Guard radio and telecommunications
equipment.
It says true resilient broadband is not available in
these locations.
These arguments simply do not stand up and Minister
Noel Dempsey could be assured of that with just one
visit to Malin Head. If telecommunications are so
vulnerable in Malin Head, why did the Irish Aviation
Authority only last year establish a
state-of-the-art monitoring centre that relays
aircraft positions on a 24/7 basis to air traffic
controllers throughout Ireland and Europe. And
hasn't Malin Head Coast Guard coped professionally
and expertly with the thousands of rescues they have
co-ordinated in the past ten decades - long before
the sound of the broadband buzzword? Similarly,
axing Malin Head Coast Guard as a marine rescue
centre with the loss of 18 jobs, is totally contrary
to the Government's decentralisation mantra. Isn't
decentralisation, from a regional development
perspective, meant to lift all boats?!
Finally, let us ask Minister Dempsey and the people
behind the plans to axe Malin Head and Valentia: If
you were on a sailing boat in Ireland's high seas
that started to take on water, who would you prefer
to hear your May Day - a brand new centre in
Drogheda with the smell of fresh paint...or Malin
Head Coast Guard Centre buffeted by salt sea air for
more than 100 years?
If you would like to register your support for Malin
Head Coast Guard Station simply email your name and
address to
wesupportu@inishowennews.com
Read tomorrow: What do the business people of Malin
Head think about the proposed closure of Malin Head
Coast Guard station and the stopping of a public bus
service to the area last year? |
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