17/07/2026
The Dublin Government's decision to hand Bristow the Irish Coast Guard search and rescue contract at Waterford Airport demands far greater public scrutiny. Reports that State-owned land, reportedly worth around €2.5 million, was sold to them for just €50,000 raise serious questions about whether the public received fair value and whether this deal served the interests of Irish taxpayers.
The contract itself, worth approximately €670 million and potentially rising to around €816 million, is one of the largest aviation contracts ever awarded by the State. Such a massive expenditure should be subject to complete transparency, yet significant questions remain unanswered.
Bristow is a Houston-based aviation company with deep roots in servicing the offshore oil and gas industry. Among its largest institutional shareholders is BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager. BlackRock holds investments in numerous companies that supply military equipment to genocidal Israel, including Lockheed Martin, RTX and Northrop Grumman, while also expanding its own investment interests in occupied Palestine through infrastructure and technology projects with the Israelis.
Irish taxpayers deserve to know why a company so closely connected through major shareholders to firms profiting from the US and Israel's military industry has been awarded one of the State's most valuable public contracts.
