I propose to take Questions Nos. 81 and 82 together.
The promotion of water safety is a matter for the local authorities and the National Safety Council. The role of the local authorities includes the making of by-laws for the regulation of bathing places, the employment of life guards, the provisions of equipment and appliances for life saving and arranging for instruction in swimming and life saving.
The NSC actively promotes the dissemination of information on water safety, liaises with the Department of Education on water safety matters for school children, issues guidelines for local authorities on water safety matters and through local communities, organises and supports swimming, life saving and resuscitation courses, over 80,000 certificates were awarded to people who attended such courses in 1996.
I am satisfied that the amalgamation of safety promotion functions in the NSC which has existed since 1988, has operated efficiently and that it has secured the administrative rationalisation and cost-effectiveness on which the establishment of NSC was premised. The consolidation of safety promotion functions in the NSC has moreover facilitated a greatly increased sponsorship of safety promotion by the Irish Insurance Federation. Water safety, in common with road safety and fire safety, has benefited from these arrangements. I have therefore no plans to withdraw the water safety functions from the NSC and allocate them to a new body.
As regards the position in other countries, there appears to be no single model for the organisation of water safety functions. The assignment of major promotional responsibilities to a national body together with extensive local authority involvement in on the ground activities, as is the case in Ireland, seems however to be a common arrangement. The National Safety Council is affiliated to International Life Saving and participates actively in international co-operation on water safety.
