Mr. Michael Kingston:

I thank Deputy Lowry. I will deal with the last issue first. The marine area deserves at least the same funding as rail, although I do not think it would cost as much as €750,000. My figures are approximate. I do not have precise figures but basically we are talking about a principal investigator with two full-time assistants, which would cost approximately €300,000, plus administration costs. In this new era, I am sure there are Government buildings that could be used in places such as Clonakilty in Cork, for example, or in Deputy Lowry's constituency - somewhere that is separate from the Department. That is the level of funding required but there is another issue of funding that relates to the Deputy's first question. He asked about the regulatory implementation needed.

This has highlighted how we have failed to implement international regulation. It is unfortunate that we are here today, but in a very positive way we can turn a negative into a massive positive, which is what I believe we are doing.

As Mr. McCarthy mentioned, we cannot continue to not take international regulation seriously in the maritime sector. I am currently working with the Government of Iceland on the guidelines for the implementation of the Cape Town Agreement on fishing vessel safety. This nation has not ratified that. Officials flew to South Africa and signed it in 2012. It is for international fishing vessels. It will prevent our emergency services having to fly 250 miles to the west of Ireland to an injury on a fishing vessel if we step up to the mark and help other nations by playing our role to get that implemented. We have not implemented it. We have not implemented the ballast water convention, the removal of wrecks convention or the amendments to SOLAS discussed by Mr. McCarthy for ships carrying hazardous substances that could have major environmental impacts in Ireland, as well as additional requirements for international passenger vessels. It does not give us the legal ability to inspect these vessels properly. That requires resources.

In fairness to the Marine Survey Office which is working on these, it is under-resourced. The same Department spent €7 million, as reported in the Sunday Independent, on a garden in Dublin Port and we spent €200,000 commissioning a song for christening a foreign vessel that was not even Irish flagged. That is money that could have been put to getting these regulations implemented and also on enhancing safety and our society. There must be a radical rethink of the importance of maritime regulation in Ireland. There is €50 million for the Coast Guard and €3 million for the Marine Survey Office. We are paying for the reaction instead of the prevention. Prevention is better than cure. We must examine this, review our regulation and get our house in order. It is critical for modern Ireland.