The search and rescue base in Waterford risks being closed for up to six months next year due to challenges.
A report in this morning's Irish Independent outlines that challenges scheduling the training of crew during a changeover from one operator to another could result in a temporary closure.
The crew training issue is a direct consequence of the planned transfer of Ireland's search and rescue contract from the current operator, CHC to a new operator, Bristow, in the next 12 months.
It is believed that Bristow, which was awarded the €800m contract by the Government this year to operate search and rescue services for 10 years, has told the incumbent, CHC, that it wants to take current staff for retraining in tranches beginning in February and over a number of following months.
Those staff would enter a retraining process with Bristow and be unavailable for service with CHC during that time, diminishing CHC’s available manpower.
It is understood that there is a severe shortage of suitably qualified search and rescue crew members, meaning a gap in staffing cannot be easily plugged.
