An Independent Senator has claimed a senior civil servant tried to intimidate him over a leaked document about search and rescue tenders when he consulted a Government department about the paper’s contents.
Senator Gerard Craughwell said he was “shocked” at the “intimidating” reply from the Secretary General of the Department of Transport who had officials consult the Attorney General’s Office and that of the Chief State Solicitor because of their “serious concern” that he had possession of the letter.
The former soldier and teachers’ union president said he had written to Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton after a member of the public contacted him about Department of Transport tender documents for consultancy services for search and rescue.
Mr Craughwell said he asked in the letter why two “very similar tenders” had issued, one which closed in August and the second tender “which seemed to be for the same job required less expertise and closed recently”.
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He also asked how the tenders would be decided on “given that we have no aviation expertise within the Department of Transport despite this being a key recommendation of the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU)”.
Under Seanad privilege, he said he was “shocked by the rather intimidating reply” he received from the department secretary general.
As well as contacting the Offices of the Attorney General and Chief State Solicitor, he said the senior civil servant also asked how he came to have the “confidential” document and called for him to destroy any hard or email copies of the document and not to circulate it to anyone else, “to protect the integrity of the procurement process”.
The department official said only those at a certain stage of the tender process should have the document.
Seanad Cathaoirleach Mark Daly intervened to caution Mr Craughwell on his use of language when the Senator said he was “disturbed” that a civil servant would feel they could use their position “to intimidate” a public representative.
But the Senator said that when a letter “sent to Ministers is being referred to the Office of the Chief State Solicitor and the Office of the Attorney General, that is intimidating”.
Mr Craughwell, who has consistently raised issues around the Rescue 116 helicopter crash in which four Irish Coast Guard crew were killed, said the fatal incident “provides indisputable evidence of a litany of reckless behaviour and failings on the part of the Department of Transport, the Irish Coast Guard and the operator of this vital service”.
He added that “equally, our taxpayers need to be protected from decisions which lead to poor value for money.
“The Department of Transport and the Irish Coast Guard have been shown to be lacking in their capacity to remain an intelligent customer for aviation in general and in search and rescue in particular.
“Yet, instead of complying with the recommendations of the AAIU they still have no aviation expertise and instead rely on consultants.”
