Mr. Terry Allen:

No, as I said at the start, the licensing conditions are geared towards and regulated and adjusted to suit the individual circumstances.

The Lusitaniais unique - and many reasons have been pointed out - because it is the only shipwreck in Irish waters that is subject to an underwater heritage order. It is a relatively modern wreck in comparison with what we normally deal with, such as Spanish Armada vessels, where clearly completely different criteria apply than would apply to the Lusitania. The artefacts we are talking about are made from bronze and are less susceptible to damage. They are more durable than the timber from a medieval ship being lifted from a seabed. The Drogheda boat, for example, taken from the River Boyne was a wooden medieval ship and we have also dealt with Corrib longboats, which are also timber. The circumstances that apply in the case of the Lusitaniaare radically different than those which arise in the generality of cases. The dive was being undertaken by someone who had more experience than anybody else of the dive site of the Lusitania. The whereabouts of the artefact was known and its nature was known; that it was a metal, bronze object. It had been filmed previously and the actual loss is, we hope, temporary. Divers went down subsequently to try to find it and they intend to make further efforts in that regard. The loss was caused by equipment failure and not through any flaw in the methodology or the approach taken to raise the artefact.