asked the Minister for Transport and Power if he had an inquiry carried out into the fishing tragedy when the Evelyn Marie sank off the Donegal coast in January, 1975; whether he received a report; and the use he made of the report.
10.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Donegal Trawler Disaster.
9.
andMr. Gallagher asked the Minister for Transport and Power if a report on the Evelyn Marie trawler disaster off the Donegal coast in 1975 has been compiled by his Department; and if so, why it has not been published.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 10 together.
Pursuant to the provisions of section 465 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, I directed that a preliminary inquiry be carried out by a marine surveyor of my Department into the loss of the Evelyn Marie. The statutory purpose of such an inquiry is to enable me to establish the circumstance of the casualty and determine whether the circumstances are such as to warrant the holding of a formal investigation under section 466 of the Act.
The surveyor who carried out the inquiry inspected the scene of the casualty, interviewed and took sworn statements from the skippers of other fishing vessels who were in the area at the time of the casualty, from members of the Garda, and had available the statements given at the inquest. He also had reports from the Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre, the Meteorological Office and Malin Head radio station.
Having considered the inspector's report and the available evidence, I decided that the holding of a formal investigation would not elicit any further information with regard to this casualty. The report of a preliminary inquiry is confidential to me and it is long established practice not to publish such reports.
Will the Minister not consider making available some of the more useful sections of the report, which would undoubtedly reveal the necessity for certain precautionary measures? Surely the report must have found something wrong in relation to the type of accident which occurred and that would be useful for future shipping in the area.
The chief marine inspector of the Department carried out the investigation and any recommendations he would have made I have either implemented or I am in the process of discussing with other Departments the desirability of implementing them. It is not the practice to publish the reports and I think the Deputy understands why the reports are not being published.
One can understand the need for confidentiality but in relation to a disaster of such proportions there would certainly be some elements of the report the Minister may have found useful in regard to future precautionary measures and does he not feel constrained to make known in the proper manner, without revealing the entire report, the more useful elements in the report to the people concerned?
I understand there were no survivors of that tragedy.
Even knowing the report revealed anything could be helpful.
The report, of course, went into, as I said, all that——
Would the Minister now——
Would the Deputy let me complete my answer?
——make some parts of the report available?
No, I will not. The surveyor interviewed everybody in the area, the fishermen, the Garda Síochána, the Meteorological Service, the Malin Head radio station and, on the information he gleaned, he did not recommend a formal investigation should be held into the tragedy and I accepted that.
Can the Minister say when this report was finalised in his Department and when the information was passed on to other Departments which might be involved?
I said had there been anything in the report that warranted such action I would have taken it.
Do I take it then that the Minister did not find it necessary to take any action?
No. The Deputy could not take that. The report was compiled on 18th June, 1975.
Did the Minister say the person who carried out the report made certain recommendations and that some of these recommendations had, in fact, been implemented?
No, I did not. I said that in any report were such recommendations included, if they were within the scope of my own Department, I would have them carried out, or if they involved other Departments I would be in process of having consultations with those Departments.
The person who wrote the report did not make any recommendations?
I did not say that.
Can the Minister say if any consultations have taken place with any other Department as a result of this report?
Not as a result of this report, but generally there have been representations made to my Department about the provision of lights and the radio frequencies in the Donegal area. Lights are a matter for the Irish Lights Commissioners, and there are discussions going on between my Department and the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, who would be the installing Department, and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries under whom fishery boats come.
Can the Minister state if the report contained anything that might prevent a similar tragedy occurring?
Unintentionally, I am sure, the Deputy is endeavouring to put words into my mouth. As I said in reply to Deputy Brennan already, there were no survivors from this tragedy. Anybody who was there at the time of the tragedy was not available to the inspectorate.
Would the Minister not agree that, in view of the large number of people who were interviewed at the time by the surveyor in question it gave rise to a certain feeling that there would be a report, and the fact that there was no promulgation of a report led to some anxiety amongst the people?
I appreciate what the Deputy has said, but going back to when this law was enacted—it is an 1894 Act—there have been relatively few formal investigations as a result of such a report. In fact, the last one in this country was in 1954, 22 years ago, in spite of all the preliminary inquiries that have been made in the meantime.
Is the Minister or his Department satisfied that the navigation charts available to fishermen are up to date and adequate?
That is a separate question.
Could the Minister give us some hope that he will have a similar survey carried out and that if there is anything in it that can be of benefit to shipping, it will be made available?
Is the Deputy referring to the more recent tragedy?
Yes. In the same waters——
There is an inspector from my Department conducting that inquiry at the moment. I will not publish that preliminary report when it comes to me.
Is this not a futile exercise?
No. I think the Deputy will understand that these are reports to the Minister for the Minister to make up his mind whether a public investigation is necessary or not. If something in that report warrants the holding of an investigation, then the publication of that report would tend to incriminate somebody between the time of the publication and the time the investigation has taken place.
Not necessarily.
I have examined this very closely and I am satisfied that this is the correct procedure.
When the report is finalised on the Carrig Una disaster, would the Minister follow it up with a public inquiry?
No, not necessarily. The Deputy is asking me to make a judgement on a report I have not yet received.
Would the Minister not agree it would be well worth while if it resulted in the saving of even one life in future?
These are hypothetical questions, and I will not make any decision on this report until I get it.