Mark, our heroic friend, farewell. Our lives will not be the same without you
LAST Tuesday morning, the country woke up to the awful news that one of our Coast Guard search-andrescue helicopters was missing off the coast of Mayo. When I heard, on the 7am news, that it involved the Dublin-based helicopter, my first thought was to wonder whether my nearneighbour, Mark Duffy, was on board.
Within an hour, there was significant activity outside his family home, which unfortunately could mean only one thing. Yet again, our community has been plunged into grief. It’s just over a year since another neighbour of ours, Garda Tony Golden, was callously taken from us.
Mark Duffy and his family have been living in our immediate area since the early 2000s. In fact, my daughter babysat their children from time to time. Virtually on a weekly basis, he flew his helicopter over his house, letting his family know that he was in the vicinity, before flying off towards Cooley Peninsula, and back to Dublin.
Annually, our seaside village has a Raft Race, and the highlight of the day’s events was always the air show put on by Mark and his crew, which would see their helicopter fly low over the water, carrying out manoeuvres including demonstrating the operation of the winchman.
All of this joyous activity belied the extremely hazardous occupation undertaken by Mark and the other members of the Coast Guard. Night and day, they are on call, ready to respond to any emergency, whether at sea, or on land.
THE nature of their work involves constant personal danger with the aim of saving lives. And yet, each of them tended to downplay the inherent dangers of their job. When questioned about this in an interview not so long ago, Mark remarked that he felt there was more danger involved in his drive from his home in Blackrock, Co. Louth, to the helicopter base in Baldoyle, Dublin.
During my time as minister for the marine, from 2002 to 2004, I had significant dealings with the Irish Coast Guard. Being an avid windsurfer made me extremely conscious of the need to have proper air sea rescue cover around our coast. Historically, we had to rely on our British neighbours to deal with disasters.
I insisted, in a department that tended to be in a tight budgetary situation, that any spare resources should be used to help expand the Coast Guard.
The government at that time decided that the air sea rescue service should move from the Air Corps to a fully dedicated operation, based on a contract with a private operator. It was felt that this was the preferable way to ensure this country would have the best possible service, given that this service, if it remained within the Defence Department, would have to constantly fight for funds against other possible priorities within that department.
The controversy surrounding the Air Corps’s ability to provide cover for recent incidents, including this one, tends to confirm the correctness of the decision to move the service from the Air Corps.
Having it on a contractual basis has ensured that a full service is put in place, over an extended period, and that it would not be the subject of budgetary fluctuations, depending on the state of the economy.
The decision to, in effect, privatise the air sea rescue service was met with considerable opposition at the time, not least from the Air Corps. In 2010, the government, on the proposal of Minister Noel Dempsey, approved a ten-year contract with CHC Helicopter at a cost of €50million per year.
Shortly after the awarding of this contract, queries were raised in the Dáil, with one opposition deputy saying there appeared to be ‘significant questions to answer’, following on from a decision by the British government to halt a similar contract there involving the same company.
It was stated that, in the event of a change of government, the new government would thoroughly examine the contract.
At the time, Mark contacted me to brief me on his views and those of his colleagues about those allegations. They were extremely worried that the adverse publicity would endanger the service and their livelihoods.
However, the new government continued to comply with the contract with CHC.
The new service has more than proven its worth. For instance, it carried out more than 1,000 successful missions in 2015. These would have ranged from routine transfer of hospital patients, to rescuing stricken fishing vessels. Indeed, last year, Mark and his crew, on our beach in Blackrock, just a couple of hundred yards from his home, rescued four children who had been caught on the wrong side of the incoming tide.
So we can be certain that the huge investment in this service from the taxpayer since the early 2000s has provided us with a world-class rescue service, saving hundreds of lives. This country has gone from a situation where we had to regularly rely on others to provide this service, to now being able to provide top-class cover right around these islands.
NO doubt over the coming weeks there will be speculation as to how this awful incident occurred. The Air Accident Investigation Unit will carry out a detailed examination of all aspects surrounding the event. It is best that we withhold judgment until the AAIU is in a position to fully report on what happened.
In the coming days, our hopes and prayers go out to Mark’s wife, Hermione, their two children, Esme and Finn, and to the families of the rest of the crew, hoping that their agony will be lessened, as soon as possible.
Our heartfelt thanks must go to the many people assisting in the task of recovery.
As a mark of respect, the annual St Patrick’s Day parade in our village was postponed, and last night a candlelight gathering took place at the Millennium Sundial on Blackrock’s promenade in solidarity with the Duffy family and Mark’s colleagues.