A mediator is to be appointed in an attempt to resolve an ongoing dispute at Doolin Coast Guard.
On Monday last, the Doolin Coast Guard was stood down after a total of six long-serving volunteers, including the unit’s officer in charge (OIC) issued their resignations with immediate effect.
At a cost of €1.9m, a state of the art purpose built Doolin Coast Guard unit opened in March 2015.
Calls for the appointment of a mediator have been issued by multiple Clare politicians over the past week including Deputy Joe Carey (FG), Deputy Cathal Crowe (FF), Senator Martin Conway (FG), Senator Timmy Dooley (FF), Cllr Shane Talty (FF) and Cllr Joe Killeen (FF).
Minister of State with responsibility for International & Road Transport & Logistics, Hildegarde Naughton (FG) informed her party colleagues, Deputy Carey and Senator Conway on Tuesday that a mediator would be appointed to try and resolve the ongoing feud in Doolin by engaging with all parties.
“This person has to be independent of the Coast Guard, it appears that is where some of the problems were,” Senator Conway told The Clare Echo. “We have to have something that we can stand over, it has to be a competent individual and somebody who is independent of the coastguard organisation and somebody that both sides respect”.
Tension had been growing for some time in Doolin, Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne (SF) stated. “Having engaged with members, both current and former, I am deeply concerned at what I have been told. Members claim management have been grossly negligent of issues occurring across regional units. Their response to regional issues has been dividing communities and has hindered more than its helped. Furthermore, there is a sense that management threaten expulsion from the service and have been unfairly dismissing members without due course to formal warnings etc. This has led to a deep sense of antagonism between membership and management”.
Something is “badly wrong” with the operations in Doolin, Deputy Michael McNamara (IND) told the Dáil. “The Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, spoke about visiting Doolin and I was there myself when its lovely new shining Coast Guard station was opened. The officer in charge there was Mattie Shannon, a man who gave his lifetime to the Irish Coast Guard in Doolin. He left the Irish Coast Guard but the Minister of State should talk to him and ask him why he left. She should also talk to the many others who left the Doolin Coast Guard unit one by one. People of that sort of dedication do not leave unless there is something badly wrong”.
