Mr. Michael Kingston:

I thank Senator Dooley for his question. I have addressed this in my briefing note in paragraph 2.1. It is very important that it is understood that although the chief surveyor and Secretary General, or his or her nominee, have had to resign from the board, that does not mean it cannot technically function in the interim while this legislation is being dealt with. A rush, therefore, will only create another mess, which I have just explained to Deputy O'Rourke. To assist the committee, I refer to section 16 of the current Act where "The Board may, from time to time, engage such consultants, advisers and investigators ... as it considers necessary for the performance of its functions". I suggest, and obviously funding needs to be made available by the Minister, that we second an experienced investigator to assist the board, which is under enormous pressure in fairness to the chairperson and the other two board members, and ensure that in the event of the incapacitation for any reason of another member of the board, the Minister would, under his powers, immediately appoint someone else. We would continue as is in the interim while we sort out this legislation.

On this proposed legislation, I am aware that the Department has suggested in the documents that there will be a review after the legislation. We have, however, already had reviews. There is the 1998 review and we know exactly what we need to do. It is quite clear. We need an independent unit with a principal investigator and two assistants who are competent: a master mariner, a chief engineer and a naval architect. They would have the ability under the legislation to draw on any other expertise that is necessary, depending on the incident. That is not difficult legislation to put together and it should not take that long. Now is the time to fix this. On the Senator's question, the lacuna can be dealt with under section 16 of the Act.