I have not made a final decision on that yet. The fact is that the Asgard is a very popular institution and it is true that it has been a great ambassador for Ireland. The other side of the story, however, is that the ship does not have any historic significance per se as it is only 30 years old. It is called the Asgard but does not have any connection with the original vessel. We must apply hard logic in making these decisions; one cannot make a decision based on emotion. There are a number of difficulties with the salvage operation: first, one must take into account the cost involved; second, one must also take into account what damage, if any, might be caused to the ship during the salvage operation; and, third, if the ship is salvaged in a fairly undamaged state and it can be repaired, one must carefully examine the cost. We must therefore take all those factors into account.
I did not recommend that a second survey take place. The first survey took place to ascertain the condition of the ship in so far as it could be ascertained. That survey confirmed that the ship was upright and did not appear to have been substantially damaged. The board of the Asgard determined that there should be a second survey, I presume to check if any deterioration had occurred in the meantime. It took a while to organise that. It could not be organised until last week due to poor weather conditions. Divers can only examine the site if weather conditions are favourable. Even when they dived to the vessel they found they could not undertake a proper survey, but just took a sonar photograph. That is in the past, however, and the board of the Asgard is meeting this afternoon and will make a recommendation to me on what it thinks should be done. I will of course take that recommendation into account.