Vol. 511 No. 5
9 Ms McManus asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources when he will implement the expert group report on casualty investigation as promised in the review of An Action Programme for the Millennium; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24744/99]
In September 1998 I published the report of the investigation of marine casualties policy review group which was set up to review the existing policy, procedures and legislative framework for maritime casualty investigation in Ireland. The high level review group carried out the most thorough and wide-ranging examination of maritime casualty investigation in Ireland and has made a comprehensive series of recommendations to improve the system for investigating such casualties, including: the establishment of an independent marine casualty investigation board with enhanced powers to investigate marine casualties; the publication of all reports into casualties within a specified timeframe; the enactment of a new legislative and procedural regime to regulate the entire area of marine casualty investigation to replace the system established in 1894.
In March of this year I secured Government approval for the general scheme of a Bill to introduce the required legislative framework to implement the key recommendations of the policy review group. I am happy to inform the Deputy that the final stages in drafting the Bill are being undertaken by my Department in consultation with the Attorney General's office. I am confident this Bill will be completed and published before the end of this year as foreseen in the current legislative programme.
Is the Minister referring to the new independent body to investigate marine accidents which was publicised recently? Is he speaking about the Government's marine accident policy review group recommendations?
Yes.
The Minister promised legislation before Christmas and I am glad to hear him repeat that undertaking today. Does he intend this body to investigate all casualties at sea? Is it his objective to reduce the time spent on investigations? Unnecessary grief is suffered by the bereaved until the investigation has been completed and that chapter closed.
This was one of the recommendations of the group. I had many of these reports published over the past year and a half. A backlog had built up. It had been the policy not to publish these reports; they were purely internal departmental reports. When I was Minister in this Department before 1992 I decided that these reports should be published. This had implications because reports which are intended for publication must be written in a different way and people must be notified that what they say will be included in a published report. It took some time to deal with these details and quite a few reports have been published since then. The group felt it was important not to delay investigations. There will be some leeway but dates and times will be fixed for publication.
