Mr. Patrick Harkin:

We are very practical. We have worked on boats all our lives. I come from the Naval Service, so I know all about the time it takes to get boats adapted to meet new requirements and so on. We are not going to just drop a guillotine the day these by-laws are signed or have a rigid introduction. There will certainly be a phasing-in period. The Royal Canal Amenity Group suggested, for example, that this would apply to electrical systems, which are very important from our perspective because they present a fire risk. We would say that boats, especially those that are lived on, should have a certified electrical system, but we are not just going to drop a guillotine on day one and say boats need to have it immediately. We are going to allow for a phasing-in. Similarly, holding tanks, for example, are being proposed for boats, but we have to be cognisant that there are older boats and it is going to take time to introduce them.

To answer the question, yes, there will be a phasing-in period and we would invite submissions on how much time there should be to allow for the introduction of those safety measures. Equally in the short term, some safety measures we are proposing, such as the fitting of fire extinguishers and smoke alarms, can be introduced very quickly. For the bigger, structural boat changes, we are cognisant of the challenge and we are being practical and reasonable.