Mr. Michael Kingston:

I thank Deputy Carey for his assistance on the committee. The simple answer to that question is that it is a legal obligation. It must be independent of the Department. That is what the European judgment has adjudicated on. It is based on an International Maritime Organization code of 2008.

Not only must the Marine Casualty Investigation Board be independent, but it must also be competent. We did not ratify that particular international regulation but we had no choice but to address it when the EU issued a directive in 2009. We then transposed it into Irish law in 2011, incorrectly as I mentioned in my opening statement, when we left the chief surveyor and the Secretary General's nominee on the board. That is the legal position. It has been recognised international practice for decades. The 1998 report I referred to in my briefing note established this and said that this was the international best practice. They cited several examples, the leading example being that of the United Kingdom's Marine Accident Investigation Branch, MAIB, which was established following the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterpriseat Zeebrugge, which many of the members will remember. Following that ferry tragedy, the judicial findings of the inquiry cited the obviousness of the fact that investigations need to be separate from the regulator or else one is analysing one's own regulations. The Department sets the regulations. In any accident, it needs to analyse whether the regulations were correct, were fit for purpose and were enforced correctly. Effectively we would be investigating ourselves. That is recognised international practice. Unfortunately, the review group contradicted itself and went against its own findings in the draft legislation. That is inexplicable. I do not know why that happened. The 1998 report that gave rise to this Act found that the MAIB physically moved its inspection unit from London to Southampton so there was a physical divide. This is why it is so important. We are dealing here with the investigation of the regulatory framework. The ideal position would be to have a chief inspector with a team independent from Leeson Lane. This is the internationally recognised best practice. It is precisely the position in Iceland, which is a much smaller country.