Vol. 405 No. 4
18 Mr. Lowry asked the Minister for the Marine if he will outline his Department's plans for dealing with a major oil spill close to the Irish coast; if he will outline the hardware, including booms, available within the State for dealing with such a situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
There is in existence, under the aegis of my Department, a marine emergency response team (MERT). The team which is chaired and vice-chaired by an assistant secretary and chief or deputy chief surveyor of my Department, respectively, has overall responsibility for the planning, co-ordination and monitoring of the national response to a marine emergency. The key tasks of the team are to give advice to the Minister on the appropriate response to a particular emergency and to ensure the availability of the expertise and resources necessary to respond to changing circumstances.
There is also a pollution operations group which is activated by MERT if there is a major spillage or threat of spillage of oil or other polluting substance which could cause damage to the marine environment. That group have overall responsibility for the direction and control of operations at the scene of an incident. Their key objectives are to prevent any escape of oil or to contain any oil already escaped and to minimise the environmental damage. The chairman of the group acts as on-scene commander at the location of the incident and is also a member of MERT. All members of the group have either a maritime background with pollution combating experience or appropriate planning experience. The pollution operations group were activated last February and successfully directed operations when the bulk carrier Tribulus with 122,000 tonnes of iron ore on board limped into Bantry Bay taking water and leaking oil.
The national emergency plan for dealing with pollution incidents around our coasts includes a list of the anti-pollution equipment which is available within Ireland. This list includes oil-booms, skimmers and other means of recovering oil from the surface of the sea, sorbent materials, beach cleaning equipment, etc. This equipment is held in stock by maritime local authorities and harbour authorities. The current status and condition of our stocks of equipment is being reviewed and plans to purchase new equipment are in train in order to improve our pollution combating capability. In accordance with normal EC practice, Ireland would have recourse to any oil pollution combating equipment held by our EC neighbours in the case of an emergency.
I accept the information the Minister has given regarding the committee who respond to oil spills and advise on the expertise and resources necessary. I am glad to hear that a review is being carried out at present along the whole coast line. Do the Department and the Minister know exactly what expertise and resources are available at each maritime port, or will they have to await the results of the review? Could we find ourselves in an emergency without the necessary resources? How soon does the Minister expect this review to be completed?
We have the information and we know exactly what is available. Of course such things as skimmers, booms and so on, are mobile and can be switched when there is an emergency. That is what happened in the case of the Tribulus when there was the added danger to mussel farming in Bantry Bay. Everybody concerned in that case, including the company who own the ship, deserve congratulations for the success of that venture.
When will the results of the present review be available?
I do not have a date but I can let the Deputy know. Needless to say, it will be available to everybody.
May I ask the Minister what co-operation is there between MERT and the central co-ordinating service in Brussels as regards difficulties that arise off the coast, particularly major spillages.
When the problem arose with the Tribulus we got in touch with Brussels direct. At that time, we got advice and a promise of further equipment if we needed it, but as it happened we did not.
