The Ceann Comhairle has strongly criticised the Minister for Transport and Marine over a proposal to close the Coast Guard radio station on Valentia Island in Co Kerry.
Kerry South TD John O'Donoghue has written to Minister Dempsey describing it as amounting to a reversal of the Government's decentralisation policy.
Under a €2m plan to improve marine safety communications, it is proposed to replace the existing coastal stations at Malin and Valentia by a new one at an undecided location in the west.
