The Coast Guard has threatened to cut off funding for mountain rescue teams in a row about independence and assessment procedures.
Search and rescue teams belonging to the Irish Mountain Rescue Association (IMRA) have been told they will receive no funding next year, and no capital funding this year, unless they agree to new procedures which would give the Coast Guard the power to assess their work.
IMRA members, who give their services voluntarily, are already concerned at what they see as a "takeover" by a bureaucratic State organisation. However, the Coast Guard, which has increased funding for search and rescue, says it wants greater accountability.
Traditionally, the Coast Guard has been responsible for search and rescue offshore and on inland waterways. Last year, it was given responsibility for co-ordinating mountain and cave rescue.
It now aims to improve the quality of search and rescue by introducing an independent quality assurance or audit scheme, a spokesman said yesterday. "The Coast Guard must be in a position to verify that public monies have been appropriately used and this is not limited to an accountancy function."
Separately, the service is in talks with the Garda about a reform of the 999 emergency call-out system for mountain rescues. This may result in the Coast Guard taking over the co-ordinating role from local mountain rescue teams for call-outs on the uplands.
Anger with the proposed changes surfaced in a statement prepared for IMRA and circulated to members earlier this month. "The Irish Coast Guard should be actively managing the changes to mountain rescue in Ireland to bring about a win/win situation. Instead, they are trying to bulldoze their way through 300 volunteers, who have provided an excellent public service to the State for over 30 years."
The Coast Guard was accused of threatening to "shut down" a 999 service "simply because we insist on maintaining our independent ethos and traditions".
However, an association spokesman said yesterday the "situation had changed" and the statement was "not now the IMRA position". Negotiations with the Coast Guard on the assessment issue were said to be at "an advanced and sensitive" stage.
IMRA secretary, Mr Liam McCabe, last week called on members not to comment. He hoped that a compromise could be negotiated by next month.
At present, 999 emergency calls are routed through Garda stations to local rescue teams. Rescues are co-ordinated by the team leader, although only gardaí are empowered to call in helicopters from the Air Corps.
IMRA has pointed out that, internationally, police forces normally have responsibility for inland rescue. A Coast Guard spokesman said yesterday there had been no change to the way 999 calls were dealt with by the emergency services.
