Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I have stated, the people who give of their time voluntarily for the Civil Defence, mountain rescue teams, the lifeboat service and the Coast Guard service are to be admired for their extraordinary commitment and courage. If we decide to legislate for a voluntary group we need to consider its implications very carefully. It is fair to say the Coast Guard service is very professional and operates to very high standards in terms of its training, its use of equipment, and the on-call situation it has as volunteers. Legislating for volunteers is certainly not an exact science. Deputy Collins can take it the Government and the Minister are very amenable to discussing these issues with the Coast Guard service. I recently advised it to send in its propositions on this and in other regards. From the Government's point of view, not only do we value the service but we will continue to fund it where we can to improve the level of services and facilities it has and its capacity to do its job. The question of legislation is one for discussion and the Coast Guard service knows and understands this.

See this speech in context