Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Kingston to the meeting and thank him for his advocacy. Everything that has been asked has been answered by Mr. Kingston. He certainly spoke about the issue of transparency and safety.

What would failure to hold this meeting result in exactly? In the context of marine accident investigation, if Mr. Kingston had a wish list of what we should say to the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, in three points, what would be on it?

Building upon the report by Captain Forde, we have an issue around investigation, impartiality and transparency. To the person listening in or watching us, this is the overarching message. This is an important matter. We must have confidence and safety. We must recognise the mistakes of the past and we must have impartiality regarding investigations and the issue around merchant shipping.

My last comment relates to the Title of the Bill. The expression used is "investigation of marine casualties". This has a profound impact on people, as we know, and on the lives of people and industry.

It is important that everything we do is underpinned by transparency, safety and legal certainty. We must also ensure that we do the right thing. I thank Mr. Kingston and Mr. McCarthy for being here and for their work in this area. I am glad that we were able to hold this meeting and Mr. Kingston's presentation has been most interesting.