Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 26 Mar 2002

Vol. 551 No. 2

Written Answers. - Marine Safety.

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

35 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources if he has satisfied himself that adequate safety standards at sea prevail, with particular reference to seaworthiness of vessels, the availability of suitably trained crews and the application of updated EU standards in relation to safety at sea; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9819/02]

Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources (Mr. Fahey)

Safety standards for seagoing passenger and cargo vessels are developed and adopted at international level, principally from the safety conventions of the International Maritime Organisation, IMO, and from initiatives at European Union level. My Department participates in the relevant IMO and EU committees, which develop new standards and legislation, and continually updates our maritime law to ensure that all the resulting EU directives and IMO safety conventions and resolutions are fully implemented.

The enforcement of all regulations is carried out by the technical staff attached to the newly established maritime safety directorate of my Department. They inspect vessels to ensure that they are complying with the safety standards laid down. I recently obtained Department of Finance sanction for the recruitment of ten additional vessels surveyors and three radio surveyors to ensure that we will be in a position to enhance our survey and inspection capability. These new staff will be taking up their duties shortly.

Under Irish and international law all vessels trading into and out of Irish ports are required to carry the appropriate certification to demonstrate compliance with the requisite international conventions and regulations applicable to ships of their size and type. All vessels are subject to surveys and inspections by their flag states and, under the European Union's port state control system, all vessels using community ports are liable to inspections by any of the EU States they are visiting. The application of port state control ensures that at any given time a large number of ships operating within the area covered by the port state control system have undergone an inspection by an EU port state control authority.

My Department's surveyors assign priority to foreign registered vessels which have had adverse inspections elsewhere or which fall into certain targeted categories. When any such vessels are found to be deficient, they are detained until the deficiencies are rectified. During 2001 my Department's surveyors inspected 281 foreign vessels under the port state control system. Of these, 17 vessels were detained for non-compliance with the requisite international marine safety conventions.

Irish registered vessels are inspected at least annually by my Department's surveyors and, in accordance with the port state control system, are liable to inspections every six months at the ports of other states that are members of the port state control system. There were 56 inspections carried out last year on Irish registered vessels under this system. Of these, no vessels were detained for non-compliance with the requisite international marine safety conventions.

The international conventions covered by these inspections include the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers – the STCW Convention – which relates to the certification standards which apply to the crews of the vessels. All crew on board the vessels must have proper certification to ensure that they are suitably trained and can adequately and safely discharge the duties of the positions they hold.

Following the sinking of the Maltese registered oil tankerERIKA off the French coast in December 1999, causing serious pollution damage, the European Commission produced a communication in March 2000 setting out a package of proposed measures to improve the safety of the seaborne oil trade. The measures include proposed amendments to the port state control directive to provide for better targeting of ships for inspection and to provide for refusal of access to community ports of manifestly substandard ships. A second package of measures proposed by the Commission comprising a directive establishing a community vessel traffic monitoring and information system and a regulation establishing a European maritime safety agency were agreed by EU Ministers last December.

I am fully supportive of the need for these enhanced protection measures for maritime safety and the marine environment and will ensure that they are speedily transposed into Irish law when they are adopted. The monitoring of ships, by regular inspections is proving to be an effective measure in encouraging full compliance with international safety standards and that the vast majority of vessels operating into and out of Irish ports are complying with international convention requirements.