Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I move amendment No. 97:

In page 39, lines 2 and 3, to delete all words from and including ", or" in line 2 down to and including "kept," in line 3.

Section 34(1) contains the phrase "or if there is no official log-book, cause other record to be kept", which is an extraordinary cop out or opt out for operators. Clearly in every case there should be a logbook. We discussed all this regarding modern technology, video, cameras and so forth. I wanted to get the Minister to extend it as widely as possible. It could be envisaged that companies could have ongoing contacts with their operations. Even in the recent disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, it was noticeable that the company, BP, seemed to be very anxious to try to control video and other reports from the undersea location of the disaster. We should incorporate modern technology into this in the era of iPhones, iPads, video links, video conferencing and so on.

Maritime legislation seems to be more 19th century legislation than 21st century legislation. Why, therefore, does the Minister not just make the deletion? There should be an official log. That should be a requirement

See this speech in context