Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for attending this debate. I ask him to intervene in this situation, not just in terms of the specific issues in dispute but also with regard to the wider issue of the relationship between the Marine Survey Office, the Department and the National Maritime College of Ireland. As the Minister with responsibility for education at the time, I was involved in sanctioning the public private partnership that led to the establishment of the National Maritime College of Ireland for €65 million in capital spend, a major infrastructure in maritime education. It is dismaying and deeply depressing that a row of this nature has developed. The level of hostility, although that might be too strong a word, between a national college and a parent Department is unacceptable.

My colleague, Deputy Michael McGrath, attended a meeting yesterday with some officials from the Marine Survey Office, MSO, and the head of the maritime college. There was a robust exchange of views. It should never have come to this, that there is a major public dispute about accreditation in the maritime field. That, above all else, demands the Minister's intervention, and his commitment and determination to resolve this and to put the relationship between his Department, the agencies under the Department and the maritime college on a better footing for the future. As a former Minister with responsibility for education I cannot comprehend how such a dispute has developed. One does not see this type of intractable row developing with Cork Institute of Technology, CIT, the institutes of technology, universities, the National University of Ireland, the Further Education and Training Awards Council, FETAC, the Higher Education and Training Awards Council, HETAC and further education bodies.

In this case, 400 mariners had been certified under a British accreditation agency. The programmes were delivered in a joint venture by the National Maritime College of Ireland and SEFtec Global Training. They offer these courses, a number of refresher training courses, in the maritime college in Ringaskiddy. They are approved by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in the United Kingdom, but not by the Irish equivalent. That is contrary to the mutual recognition of qualifications directive under the European Union. It appears that the MSO is requiring fully qualified master mariners to deliver the courses whereas people who have knowledge of this issue say it is not the place of master mariners to teach these basic courses. In colleges throughout the world the courses are taught by ex-boatswains, ex-petty officers from the navy or other such seamen who are used to launching and recovering life rafts, lifeboats and so forth on a daily basis. Likewise, firefighting courses are normally taught by people who are experienced firefighters. Ship masters are not required. There appears to be a lack of pragmatic engagement here.

The upshot is a damaging public dispute, which I regret, as well as potential redundancies, the ending of the joint venture, damage to the reputation of the college and the undermining of its future. I urge the Minister to become involved due to the macro dimension to this, the need to put that relationship on a much better footing than it currently is. He also must have the issue sorted for the 400 people who have done the course.

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