Vol. 524 No. 2
96 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources if he has satisfied himself with the safety procedures at sea in view of the recent tragic shipping disasters off our coastline; the plans he has to provide further protection for trawlers at sea; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22078/00]
I am committed to ensuring the highest levels of safety at sea which can only be achieved by a three-pronged approach comprising statutory regulation and enforcement, the promotion of safety awareness and the provision of the highest quality marine emergency services.
As regards the tragic accidents that occurred off the west coast recently, these vessels were not part of the Irish fleet and, as such, were not subject to the safety regime which applies to Irish-registered vessels. That being said, every vessel operating in or transiting our search and rescue region is entitled to and will receive appropriate protection from our emergency services. My Department, in partnership with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, has established marine search and rescue services which are second to none in Europe in terms of resources, readiness, training and management.
In terms of the prevention of accidents at sea, my aim is to ensure that the appropriate regulatory framework is in place to ensure that all Irish registered vessels operating to and from Ireland are constructed, maintained and operated to acceptable international safety standards. To that end, a programme of work is currently being undertaken in my Department to update our maritime law and ensure that all EU Council directives and all relevant international maritime safety conventions, including amendments to SOLAS – safety of life at sea – and STCW – standards of training, certification and watchkeeping – are fully implemented. The enforcement of these regulations is carried out by the marine survey office of my Department.
My Department is committed to an ongoing campaign of safety awareness. This work is undertaken in conjunction with a number of State agencies and other bodies such as the RNLI.
I will now address the question of protection for trawlers at sea. Since publication of the report of the fishing vessel safety review group in 1996, it has been a priority for my Department to implement its recommendations and objectives to the greatest possible extent. In 1999 my Department established a fishing vessels safety implementation group to assess progress and identify further priority areas for action. A harmonised safety regime for fishing vessels over 24 metres in length was brought into force in 1999.
Additional Information.Further priority areas for action were identified and as a result safety regulations for vessels of 12 to 24 metres and six to 12 metres have been drafted and it is expected that they will be in place very shortly. A code of safety practice for vessels under six metres is also being developed and four additional training instructors have been appointed by Bord Iascaigh Mhara arising from the new radio regulations. In addition, £500,000 has been provided in my Department's Vote this year to establish a network of offshore weather and research buoys which will do much to improve weather forecasting and safety at sea.
The development of a comprehensive safety programme for the sea fishing sector involves ongoing consultation with the fishing industry, which has a vitally important part to play in developing a safety culture among fishermen. A formal liaison process has been established between the fishing vessel safety implementation group and the industry, which is working very well.
I know the Minister shares my view that the two accidents to which my question referred involved a terrible loss of life. We sympathise with the families of those who died. It makes no difference whether those individuals were Spanish or Irish, these accidents were major tragedies. I fully appreciate that the two trawlers were not sailing under the Irish flag, but, according to the information at the Department's disposal at present, did the crews involved seek the assistance of our rescue services? What went so terribly wrong to allow these two horrendous accidents to happen?
Investigations are being carried out into both accidents and it would be irresponsible to speculate on what went wrong. It is clear that these were two freak accidents and I join Deputy Connaughton in offering our sympathy to everyone involved. I have already communicated my sympathies to my counterparts in Spain and France.
There was a great deal of bad luck involved in both cases and regardless of the precautions one takes, accidents will happen. It is particularly significant that our search and rescue services and coastguard were successful in rescuing some members of the crews of both trawlers. I thank the communities along the Connemara coast for the ongoing and significant efforts they are making to search the shoreline to find the remaining bodies.
I join Deputy Connaughton and the Minister in expressing our sympathy in respect of the tragic loss of life in these recent accidents.
With regard to the Minister's comment about putting in place an appropriate regulatory framework, will he indicate the aspects of the SOLAS Convention and international maritime laws relating to safety which have not yet been trans posed into Irish law? Does he intend to introduce legislation to give effect to the appropriate regulatory framework to which he referred? When can we expect those proposals to be brought forward?
Work is proceeding on the preparation of legislation. However, I cannot provide a timescale regarding when this work will be completed. We are working on updating our laws to ensure that all EU Council directives and maritime safety conventions, including the amendments to which the Deputy referred, are included in the legislation. As already stated, that legislation is in preparation but the pace is slow because of the amount of other legislation under preparation in the Department at present. The size of the workload in the parliamentary counsel's office means that several items of legislation must be dealt with before that to which I referred.
The six minutes for this question have elapsed.
Am I not allowed to ask a question?
No. Unfortunately, the Chair is governed by the rules of the House.
It is all a cod.
