Mr. Con Hayes:

I do not have much more to say, but what I do have to say next is critical.

Because of the growing maritime and military rivalry between Great Britain and Germany, in 1903 Cunard Steamship Company entered into a 20-year binding agreement with the British admiralty. The sinking of the Lusitania, unlike that of the Titanic, was a totally man-made disaster and a deliberate act of war and, therefore, a much bigger event in world history. It is doubtful if the full story of the Lusitaniahas been told. In technical terms, it is a marvel of our times, but it also represents the social history of the era in a stark way, including a deliberate shipwreck on a grand scale with the most unlikely heroes and villains; a high level cover-up between Queenstown and London; and, remarkably, the unmasking, by its chairman, Lord Mersey, of the plan to blame Captain William Thomas Turner for the sinking at the Board of Trade inquiry.

The sinking of the Lusitania occurred in international waters, but subsequent developments in maritime law mean she is now well within Irish territorial waters. The placing of a heritage order on the wreck site of the Lusitaniaby the State, through the offices of the Department, was initial recognition of the great historical importance of the ship. One of the immediate consequences was that a licence was required through the UAU to carry out any diving mission to the Lusitaniafor any purpose. Initially, the owner of the Lusitania, Mr. Bemis, agreed to work in co-operation with the UAU, even though he had to go to court to establish his ownership rights. Matters became a little more fraught when he was initially refused a licence to retrieve artefacts and again had to go to court to establish his right to retrieve such artefacts. These events represented a poor beginning to the relationship between Mr. Bemis and the State. That was a pity because Mr. Bemis has great passion for the heritage and history of the Lusitania, as proved by the enormous investment of time and money he has made in it for nearly half a century. We have no doubt that the representatives of the State who deal with Mr. Bemis are equally committed and understand the relationship has improved significantly in recent times.

We approached Mr. Bemis in ignorance of most of this background, simply because we were equally committed to bringing the story of the Lusitania to life, especially through recovered artefacts. When we first contacted Mr. Bemis, we had no money and nothing at all of a physical nature done at the signal tower site. We were articulating a vision based on voluntary local action. Perhaps that intrigued him. In any case, our relationship developed into one of trust and friendship to the extent that he decided that he would gift us the wreck of the Lusitania,a remarkable act of generosity in all of the circumstances. Therefore, by accident of history, the people are now the custodians of a priceless piece of historical heritage in the form of the wreck of the Lusitania. It is time to make a new beginning to bring Mr. Bemis’ vision to fruition by acting together in order that future generations of home-grown and foreign visitors can get a flavour of this remarkable maritime heritage and history. We believe the State should take the initiative in this new beginning by formally honouring Mr. Bemis for the work he has done - that is one of our requests to the committee - to keep knowledge of the Lusitania alive and for his generosity in bequeathing it to an Irish local voluntary group.

While we are determined and willing to pursue every available funding avenue in regard to the proposed museum and visitor centre, perhaps because of the unique nature of this historic treasure the State should consider our third phase as worthy of special treatment, whereby we would not have to compete against much stronger entities for funding. We hope we have shown and are continuing to show just how deep our commitment is in what we have done so far.Mr. Bemis is deeply committed to investigating the cause of the second explosion. This will require active intervention in the form of a licence, as opposed to the passive intervention involved in artefact recovery. The last few weeks of August and early September were very busy on the wreck of the Lusitania. Under licence, a team of highly qualified and expert divers has been surveying the wreck and recording all of its details in a baseline study of its current status and also identifying a large number of retrievable artefacts. Mr. Eoin McGarry and his team have a licence to retrieve the ship's compass, which would be another priceless artefact to display. The English humorist Terry Pratchett stated, "A vital ingredient in making a success of a project is not to be fully aware that what you are attempting is impossible." In that spirit, we advance.