Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The other amendment I tabled is on a progress report on the establishment of a new marine casualty investigations unit being laid before the Dáil. We are trying to get a cast-iron guarantee from the Minister and the Department that the commitments he has made verbally would be delivered upon. We know the context of this debate. It came up during pre-legislative scrutiny. We all know this is a technical Bill to deal with a specific issue arising out of a European judgment. We all appreciate that.

Committee members now have available to us the Lacey report which was published in 2010. It made specific recommendations on how we deal with the totality of the deficiencies in marine casualty investigations. It made proposals and the publication of the heads of the Bill for a multimodal accident investigation office. We had these proposals. We know the Department had them in 2010. We know there were clear indications in the Department and other quarters that we were at risk of running into difficulties because of our emerging European obligations. Despite this we walked straight into difficulties and we are where we are with the Bill before us.

We should not have needed to be here with the Bill. Had we acted on the Lacey report and other advice, at the time and in the meantime, we should not have had to be at this point with this Bill. As a result of this and related to it there are deep concerns, which I share, that we will not get larger follow-on legislation and action to deal with the wide range of issues regarding marine casualty investigation.

The purpose of the four amendments I tabled is to get that cast iron guarantee from the Minister and the Department. My fear is that without it we will have drift in terms of the enactment of this legislation or any future legislation such that a number of years down the line we will be no further on in terms of the practical delivery of world class marine casualty investigations. That is the sum total of it. I appreciate that the amendments have been ruled out of order. I am frustrated but I understand the process. From my perspective, I would have severe reservations around supporting this legislation unless I had very a firm guarantee that it is only an important first step in a process of reform within the marine casualty investigation area. I hope that captures my position on it and that people understand it. I understand that this is technical legislation and that it is time dependent. I support that element of it. Without a commitment on the broader suite of reforms, however, it will be very difficult for me to support this legislation.