Ms Cliona Cassidy:

I thank the Vice Chairman. I am very honoured by the proposal to extend my appointment as chairperson of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, MCIB, for a further year and to have this opportunity to present my credentials to the committee this morning. I grew up and attended primary school in Saudi Arabia. I returned to Ireland for my secondary education and boarded at Rathdown School, Glenageary, County Dublin and subsequently at King’s Hospital School, Palmerstown. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in business and legal studies from UCD in 1996. I completed a certificate in marketing and French and moved to the United Kingdom where I was employed by the British Potato Council in Oxford as an export marketing executive and subsequently as export manager. The British Potato Council is a semi-State body funded through levies from the potato industry. My main responsibility in those two roles was the management of external international consultants who assisted in the management of the public image of British seed and consumer potatoes through media management, trade shows, seed growth trials and Government relationships. Our target markets were mainly in Europe and the Middle East. I represented the British Potato Council on a number of committees, including the Department for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs export industry committee which facilitated the exchange of ideas and co-ordination of international activities for a diverse range of British food and cultural promotional bodies. I completed my employment in the British Potato Council in a consumer-marketing role promoting the industry to consumers in association with retailers and potato processors. In all of these roles I had budgetary responsibility, ensuring that limited resources were applied to gain the maximum or greatest result.

I moved back to Ireland and in 2005 I graduated from the Honorable Society of King’s Inns with merit and was called to the Bar. I completed my practical training as a barrister while devilling in 2005 and 2006, first with Ms Caroline Cummings in criminal law and judicial review and then with Ms Marian Moylan and Ms Carrie Jane Canniffe in both family law and commercial law. I currently practice at the Bar and have a civil law practice based in Dublin. One of the cornerstones of the Irish Bar is the fact that barristers are independent, notwithstanding who they represent or have represented in the past. Over the past 12 years, my practice has included judicial review proceedings where I have advised members of An Garda Síochána challenging the procedures in disciplinary investigations. I have also provided legal advice to the Chief State Solicitor’s office on challenges by members of the Garda Síochána to decisions regarding disciplinary matters and the Garda compensation scheme. I regularly advise on contractual and negligence disputes and have represented injured persons and insurance companies in a range of personal injuries actions, including physical and psychological injuries. I have also advised clients on bullying and harassment claims and employment contract disputes. I have also managed a team of barristers in a large electronic discovery process for a commercial funds dispute. I was a member of the family Bar working group tasked with exploring the role of alternative dispute resolution in family disputes in December 2007. This included assisting in the drafting of a response to the report of Dr. Carol Coulter on the family law courts.

In 2008 I was appointed by the arbitration committee of the Bar Council to two working groups to assist in the preparations for the International Council for Commercial Arbitration , ICCA, conference and the young arbitration practitioners conference. The working groups were established to market and promote the involvement of practitioners in the conferences and to promote alternative dispute resolution in Ireland. Following an interview process I was selected by the arbitration committee to intern at the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, ICDR, in New York.

During my time at the Bar, I have taught law to a range of students who have varying levels of, and requirements for, legal knowledge. I currently tutor on the legal studies diploma course and the barrister-at-law degree course, which is a vocational course concentrating on practice and procedure. Both courses are provided in the Honorable Society of King’s Inns. I have also developed and delivered a basic introduction to law course for final year engineering students in UCD

My experience, while diverse, shows some of the key skills that are required in the role of chairperson of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, MCIB, particularly objectivity, independence and a focus on fair procedures. As the committee knows, the MCIB was set up pursuant to the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) Act, 2000 and SI 276 of 2011, the European Communities (Merchant Shipping) (Investigation of Accidents) Regulations 2011. Its function is to carry out investigations of marine casualties involving Irish vessels or that take place in Irish waters. The result of those investigations is to ascertain the cause of the incident in order to enable the MCIB to make recommendations to the Minister, particularly safety recommendations. While the reports can, at times, make for difficult reading, the recommendations aim to assist in preventing the repetition of those incidents. The paramount focus of the MCIB is to assist in the promotion of a culture of safety in the water and on vessels. The assignment of blame or fault does not fall under the remit of the MCIB and it is important that this essential feature continues to be promoted. It is necessary for the efficient management of investigations that people interviewed in the course of it understand that the purpose is purely to ascertain the cause of the incident and not to assign blame or fault. This promotes openness, which could otherwise be a difficulty. It is important to keep in mind that with some incidents a whole village or community will have been touched by that incident. In that context, it is very important that we are seen as promoters of a safety culture.

A further key statutory provision is the independent nature of the MCIB, which enables it to address appropriate safety recommendations to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport where appropriate and if required. Independence in respect of a relationship with the industry is also important. I have no connection with the marine industry and in the five years that I have been chairperson of the board, I have never been conflicted in a situation or unable to deal with a particular report..

I was appointed to the role of chairperson of the MCIB in January 2013 for a period of five years. In that time I have had the pleasure of working with dedicated members of the secretariat who underpin the work of the board and without whom we could not function. They are our only full-time employees. At the moment our secretary to the board is Ms Margaret Bell and she is supported by Ms Monica Quinn and Mr. Patrick Leonard. I have also had the pleasure of working with very committed members of the board. When I was originally appointed the board comprised two independent members, Mr. Brian Keane and Mr. Micheál Frain, as well as Mr. Brian Hogan, who is the chief surveyor and Mr. Jurgen Whyte, the nominee of the Secretary General of the Department.. In 2016 and 2017 the two independent members completed their terms and we welcomed two new members on to the board, Ms Dorothea Dowling and Mr. Frank Cronin.

Towards the end of 2017, Nigel Lindsay replaced Jurgen Whyte, after 12 years, as the nominee of the Secretary General of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

During my time as chairman of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, MCIB, we have made several changes to protect confidentiality, for example, through the anonymising of published reports, and to ensure the focus is on the safety recommendations. We underwent an audit by the European Maritime Safety Agency to assess the implementation of EU Directive 2009/18/EC, implemented in Ireland as SI No. 276 of 2011. We are undergoing preparations for the implementation of the general data protection regulation, GDPR. Obviously, we hold much data in respect of families and others involved in marine incidents. It is important our systems and processes protect personal information held in the MCIB as a structure.

The MCIB has a panel of investigators and knowledgeable board members. I see my continuing role as providing independent leadership and guidance to ensure fair procedures are followed in the course of investigations. The prompt and accurate publication of reports is essential to the work of the MCIB. It will remain a key focus of the agency's work into the future.

I thank the Chairman and the committee for their time and patience this morning. I look forward to continuing to ensure the MCIB is run in an efficient manner and the paramount requirement of safety in all waters in Ireland is promoted.