Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sick to the stomach is the way I described it when we listened to the witnesses. However, what was more terrifying about it was the way they were treated. Something like nine boats came out of this factory. It is similar to the national car test, NCT, and four of these boats practically failed the NCT and were allowed out. Nobody is being held responsible for that.

That poor man spent quite an amount on purchasing the vessel, extending it and trying to get the buoyancy right and still it would not work. His and his family's livelihood and that of generations of his family were wiped out in one go because of somebody's incompetence. It also affected his crew. He took the responsibility and said that ship was not safe and had to be grounded, and those people lost their jobs. Senator Craughwell is correct that one family is not big enough to take on Europe. What sickens me more, however, and the Chair said it, is that three more boats are still operating in Europe. I do not know whether that factory is still operating, but somebody has to be held responsible if one of those boats flips over and people are killed.

I did a lot of work on a protected disclosure and, like I said, it is very similar. That gentleman spoke out and exposed this and made a disclosure that there are three more boats out there. We, as elected representatives, are duty-bound to report that if it is something of national concern that could affect the country or if it falls under health and safety legislation and could affect somebody's life expectancy.

I do not know who we should go to. Should we go to the Minister, or whoever is responsible, and say this is a major concern? I am going to put this on record and I think everyone else should be of the same view. I would not like to come back to the committee in a couple of weeks and say we have found out that one of those boats has flipped over, with six, ten or 12 people killed, even though we had said it at this meeting. We would hate to have to say we told them so.

Why has nobody been held responsible for this? We are all equal under the great European law until something goes wrong, and when it comes down to accountability and responsibility, everybody tries to bury it. That individual is very lucky to have all those experts and friends with him. He has top-of-the-class experts and they have all the proof, but no one wants to take responsibility. I do not care who is in government. As a nation, we should be duty bound to protect our own and to fight on behalf of those who have been wronged. That is the way I feel about it. As I said, I recently dealt with a protected disclosure that had been going on for 18 months. Eventually, there was a fatality, and I had been beating down the door for 18 months saying something was going to happen. I certainly would not like anyone to have been in my shoes because when I heard that, my heart sank. I still get emotional about it because I feel responsible that I did not do enough.

We have to approach this as a matter of urgency. I do not know how long it has been going on but these people should not be let down, and those who failed these people should be held to account and held responsible for this because somebody has to pay.