Thank you very much, a Cheann Comhairle, for giving me permission to raise this matter on the Adjournment. Thanks also to the junior Minister for making himself available at this late hour and for responding so readily to my request to have a full scale and thorough inquiry into the circumstances that led to this extraordinary incident last Sunday night in Cork Harbour.
Very briefly what happened was that a 5,000 tonne cargo ship bringing scrap iron from Le Havre to the Irish Steel plant in Haulbowline was entering Cork Harbour at about 9.20 p.m. last Sunday. At the point of entry to the harbour, when one would have thought that the ship would have been clearly positioned to enter the channel, to place itself between the navigational buoys and set itself on direct course for its destination, the ship veered southwards and ran aground on a sand bank wedged between rocks and the beach between Myrtleville and Fountainstown.
On the face of it, it would seem as if this was about the most spectacular nautical U-turn that has happened in the history of Cork Harbour. It is a matter of speculation in Cork as to how a ship that was geared to going in one direction found itself mysteriously in the opposite direction. I will quote in this context the comment of the local sergeant who was called to the scene of a ship on the rocks. He stated in The Cork Examiner of Monday, 6 February:
I have never known anything like this in my 25 years here. It is a mystery to me how the ship got into this position.
Indeed, it is a mystery to all of us, especially on a night when there was absolutely no fog and it is a mystery we would like to see unravelled.
Luckily the ship ran aground at a point where the sand was soft, narrowly missing jutting sharp rocks — rocks that have been described as razor sharp. I would remind the Minister that there was a gale force wind that night and had a gust of wind hit the ship at the point of impact, almost certainly that ship would have been wrecked off those razor sharp rocks, and we would have had in Cork Harbour a disaster almost on the scale of the Kowloon Bridge disaster. Luckily that did not happen. It has been said that luck strikes twice, and that was true on this occasion. Luckily the ship subsequently was refloated on a rising tide and was able to complete its course and arrive at its destination.
The explanation given the following day by the captain of the German-owned ship when queried on how the ship went so radically off course, was that there could have been a problem with the compass. That was his only explanation. The harbour master in response said that it — referring to the captain's explanation — certainly could have explained the problem especially if the ship was on auto-pilot. I have seldom seen so many "ifs" in any series of statements. Clearly this explanation is not acceptable to me or to anybody and must not be seen to be the final word on this issue. If it were to be the final word, there is no doubt that the harbour master and everybody connected with Cork Harbour could be accused of a degree of complacency that would be entirely out of character with the manner in which Cork Harbour has been managed for hundreds of years, and I certainly would not wish that to happen. That is exactly what happened and luckily a major disaster was averted.
What might have happened had a shipwreck taken place was that in one fell swoop some of the loveliest beaches in Cork Harbour, the beaches of Myrtleville and Fountainstown that are such firm favourites with the people of Cork city, and visitors, would have been ruined with the fuel oil that must have been on that ship — I refer to the bunker oil lest anybody get uneasy about this. The ship was not carrying a cargo of oil; it was carrying scrap steel, but nonetheless it must have had a complement of fuel oil which would have destroyed those beaches. The consequent result for fishing — it is a very good fishing area — and for wild fowl in the area would have been very serious and very severe. I would remind the Minister that we are talking about the general area of Crosshaven, an area world famous for its yachting and water activities. An accident of this nature in any location around our coast would be deplored, but doubly so if it had happened in this locality.
Cork Harbour has been the subject of much scrutiny of late by concerned citizens who are anxious and adamant to ensure that pollution levels are meticulously monitored and that adequate controls and safeguards are put in place. That is as it ought to be, but can you imagine what a slap in the face it would have been to these people and to all of us if the accident that was so narrowly and miraculously averted on Sunday night had taken place? The relevant authorities impose their own controls in Cork Harbour. Chemical companies in the harbour are obliged by law to ensure that all supplies of toxic materials are delivered by competent operators and in reliable vessels. That is an obligation that should be extended in law to all companies, and certainly to Irish Steel in regard to that part of the harbour.
On the south coast we have had in recent years more than our share of wrecks. On the lovely Coomeenole Beach in Kerry there are still the remains of a ship to haunt us because of our lack of foresight and our lack of legislation. Further eastwards there are the sad relics and remains of the Kowloon Bridge, leaving behind an issue that has not yet been settled by the Irish Government. Further east again, there are three wrecks despoiling the face of our coastline in Ardmore and Tramore, that is to mention but a few of the wrecks along our lovely coastline. Any wreck must be viewed with extreme concern by the Minister for the Marine, his Minister of State and everybody else. Let me put it simply, we have enough wrecks now, another would be one too many so every step must be taken to ensure that whatever happened on Sunday night will not be repeated. The word must go forth from our legislators that the kind of carelessness, neglect or whatever it was, that caused the ship to go aground is not being tolerated in our waters. I would not like it if one of our shipping agents tried a similar conduct in German waters. I do not think it would be acceptable or tolerated, and rightly so, and it ought not to be tolerated in Cork harbour or in any other harbour in this country, either. I appeal to the Minister to take the strongest possible line and to view this event, with all the potential hazards it had, with extreme seriousness and to order a full inquiry and to ensure that anything of this nature will not be allowed happen again, either advertently or inadvertently.
We have a harbour that has an oil refinery. We were very lucky that a tanker at the refinery did not find itself in similar circumstances. Can you imagine what the consequences for the whole south coast would have been had that happened? One way or the other I am asking the Minister to view the incident with extreme seriousness. Cork harbour and especially the city of Cork has as its motto statio bene side carinis which roughly translated means a good and safe harbour for ships. That is what we have in Cork, that is the tradition that has always been maintained in Cork. We have a harbour that has always been well managed and well monitored. We want to ensure that that standard is maintained, that no complacency of any kind will be allowed to creep in and that while the harbour continues to be safe for ships it will be no place for shipwrecks.
