Gerard P. Craughwell Questions H145 Helicopter Purchase and Safety
Gerard P. Craughwell urged colleagues to attend a 12:30 cardiology briefing today and raised concerns about the Defence Forces' recent purchase of four H145 helicopters, arguing they may not meet Commission recommendations.
In the chamber he called for a public debate with the Minister for Defence and questioned reliance on a single supplier and the presence of possible Israeli equipment.
Health briefing reminder
Gerard P. Craughwell opened by highlighting a presentation by leading cardiologists at 12:30 on hypertension and the dangers of stroke. He stressed that stroke and cardiac events can affect people of any age and encouraged Senators and members of the Dáil to attend and hear from specialists.
Defence Committee concerns
Drawing on last week’s Defence Committee session, Craughwell outlined objections to the purchase of four H145 helicopters, saying they are not the medium lift aircraft recommended by the Commission on the Future of Defence Forces. He said the Commission advised two medium lift helicopters and a later move to super-medium lift craft, a plan now apparently unfunded.
Procurement and policy questions
Craughwell warned against concentrating procurement with a single supplier and cited Professor Davis’s evidence to the committee that this approach is risky. He also asked why training aircraft would require missile systems and raised the issue of government policy banning Israeli equipment if those helicopters contain such components.
Call for ministerial accountability
He concluded by requesting that the Minister for Defence come to the chamber for an open debate on adherence to government policy and the Commission’s recommendations, and said questions for both Defence and Justice remain unanswered regarding the purchase.
In the chamber he called for a public debate with the Minister for Defence and questioned reliance on a single supplier and the presence of possible Israeli equipment.
Health briefing reminder
Gerard P. Craughwell opened by highlighting a presentation by leading cardiologists at 12:30 on hypertension and the dangers of stroke. He stressed that stroke and cardiac events can affect people of any age and encouraged Senators and members of the Dáil to attend and hear from specialists.
Defence Committee concerns
Drawing on last week’s Defence Committee session, Craughwell outlined objections to the purchase of four H145 helicopters, saying they are not the medium lift aircraft recommended by the Commission on the Future of Defence Forces. He said the Commission advised two medium lift helicopters and a later move to super-medium lift craft, a plan now apparently unfunded.
Procurement and policy questions
Craughwell warned against concentrating procurement with a single supplier and cited Professor Davis’s evidence to the committee that this approach is risky. He also asked why training aircraft would require missile systems and raised the issue of government policy banning Israeli equipment if those helicopters contain such components.
Call for ministerial accountability
He concluded by requesting that the Minister for Defence come to the chamber for an open debate on adherence to government policy and the Commission’s recommendations, and said questions for both Defence and Justice remain unanswered regarding the purchase.
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Transcript
Go raibh maith agat go raibh maith agat. Leader, as the Cathaoirleach has pointed out there will be a presentation in the AV room today at 12.30 by some of the leading cardiologists and related professions in the country and the topic on discussion will be hypertension and the dangers of hypertension. People tend to think that stroke is something that afflicts people in their latter part of their lives, people who are in the departure lounge like myself over a certain age but in actual fact one of my school friends had a stroke at 37 and spent the rest of his natural life in a nursing home. Stroke can affect anybody, hypertension can affect anybody, cardiac related events can affect any single person so I would ask members of the Senate and the Dáil to attend if they can today and get to meet some of the professionals that are there and maybe take a few moments to listen to what they have to say. Moving on, last week at the Defence Committee we had the Department of Defence in and I raised questions concerning the purchase of four H145 helicopters for the Defence Forces which in my view do not meet the requirements of the Commission on the Future of Defence Forces. They are not medium lift helicopters and the Commission looked for the purchase of two medium lift helicopters which would be the Augusta Westing 139s and then between now and 2030 to move to eight super medium lift helicopters. Apparently now there's no money left to buy the super medium lift helicopters. I do think and I've asked on a number of occasions for the Minister for Defence to come into this house and let's have an open debate on firstly adherence to government policy and the Commission on the Future of Defence Forces but secondly we are now piling all of our eggs into one basket and have selected one country for the supply of nearly all defence equipment. Professor Davis who spoke in front of the committee two weeks ago advised that this was folly. Politics changes, countries change their attitudes etc etc so I do think we need to explore this with the Minister and see exactly who's driving the agenda in this country, what is the agenda, are we going to follow to the letter of the law the recommendations of the future of the Defence Forces. I think it's hugely important. Buying four helicopters is great but if they can't do the job that we want of them what good are they? They certainly can't carry a section of Special Forces people. Whether or not they'd be able to fight fires I'm not sure. They said they were being used for training. If they're only being used for training why do we need missile systems on them? And the other thing is government policy is no Israeli equipment of any sort and I understand those helicopters may well have Israeli equipment. So there are questions for both Defence and Justice to answer with respect to the purchase of these helicopters. I'll leave it at that, thank you.