Jim Kemmy
Question:60 Mr. Kemmy asked the Minister for the Marine if he intends to introduce legislation to ensure greater safety measures and facilities on all ferries using Irish ports.
Written Answers. - Ferry Safety Measures.
As a contracting party to the International Maritime Organisation's Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention, Ireland have introduced regulations under the Merchant Shipping Acts to give effect to the provisions of SOLAS. Passenger vessels registered in the State are subject to annual surveys for the renewal of their passenger and safety certificates. Inspections of foreign-registered vessels using Irish ports are carried out in accordance with the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control, to which Ireland is a contracting party.
My Department are working on a continuting basis, both in the context of the IMO at international level and the National Ferry Safety Committee at domestic level, to ensure that the highest standards of safety are achieved on all ships using Irish ports. As a result of an examination of the Report of the Formal Inquiry into theHerald of Free Enterprise casualty that was carried out by the Irish National Ferry Safety Committee, regulations have been introduced to implement, where appropriate, the recommendations of that inquiry. For the future, I shall be guided in the introduction of further measures by my expert advisers in the Marine Survey Office, by the IMO, and by the National Ferry Safety Committee, who were established by my predecessor to keep ferry safety under continuous review.