The continuing transfer of the Irish Coast Guard’s Search and Rescue (SAR) operations, from CHC to Bristow Ireland Ltd (BIL) made news headlines last week as the crew of Rescue 118, based in Sligo Airport, made a public appeal for information about their transfer, which was scheduled to take place last weekend. 

Rescue crews in other parts of the country backed the Sligo crew’s calls for clarity and criticised the lack of available information as a “distraction” which risked compromising crew safety. The Department of Transport subsequently confirmed that the Sligo base has had its start date postponed until the end of April.  

Under the terms of an exclusive recognition agreement secured in 2023, Fórsa represents technical crew (winch operators/winchmen), while IALPA, a branch of Fórsa, represents the SAR pilots. 

The transfer of operations from CHC to BIL includes changes to aircraft and crew. BIL has until 30th June 2025 to meet its contractual deadline to supply helicopters to all four search and rescue bases.  

The former Director of the Irish Coast Guard, Chris Reynolds, this week criticised the pace and scale of the transition, and said the threefold change of contractor, aircraft and crews was not given enough time: “If you don't give yourself enough time, you have to rush transition. And rushing transition, we've seen in other places in the world, leads to accidents.” 

BIL has confirmed that “a couple of minor injuries” have been reported during training on the new system. In an interview with RTÉ, Mr Reynolds said the solution to this is more time for training and familiarity with the new system. 

Fórsa official Eugene Gargan said SAR technical crew have experienced a huge level of uncertainty and stress during the transition: “All crew, including those in Shannon Airport who have already moved to the new operator, are concerned about the delayed transition at the Sligo base.” 

He explained that the disruption to the original timeline is having a detrimental effect on their rosters, training and operational capacity. 
 
“Our representatives are engaging with BIL to make further progress on a broad range of issues and are currently making detailed preparations for our next meeting with BIL’s senior management, which takes place in Shannon next week,” he said. 

IALPA SAR rep Captain Mark O’Callaghan said: “The uncertainty that has arisen as a result of the change of the SAR provider is unfortunate, but we are focused on making sure pilots’ terms and conditions are protected in their entirety.” 

“SAR pilots just want to provide the quality service to the Coast Guard that we have done over many years without unnecessary distractions and uncertainty.” 

He also mentioned that IALPA has ensured that all terms and conditions of its members are protected throughout this transfer. “We will continue our proactive engagement with both CHC and Bristow,” he concluded. 

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