Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have no difficulty bringing in representatives of those two Departments but before we do that, we should seek to be provided with the marine inspector's report that gave the licence to that boat. We should be provided with all the documentation that led to the licence being awarded. Thereafter, and the secretariat may tell me we do not have the power to do this, we should get an independent marine engineer to forensically examine the sequence of inspection that led to a licence being awarded. At that stage, we will be sufficiently informed to question the Departments on this.

It is simply not good enough for us - the uninformed, the great unwashed - to try to put ourselves into the persona of a marine engineer. We heard from two marine engineers during the discussion on the petition, but we need an independent person to forensically examine everything that happened between the day that fishing vessel was launched and the day when the adjustment to its size took place. We need that so as to know exactly the sequence of events. We then also need access to the marine inspectorate at European level because if three ships or boats are still on the sea, and we know from the evidence given that there is one in Germany, we need to know what Europe has done to take those boats out of the water or to force them to be rectified.

This committee and the Oireachtas are big enough to take on Europe. The family involved should be compensated by the State, which should go after the relevant authority in Europe to get it done. To have all our ducks in a row, however, we need to have expert opinion on which we can rely when we make a recommendation. I would be slow to bring in representatives of either Department until we have fuller information.