Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I hope they will be able to invoke section 40. The O'Brien and Esmonde families have suffered huge trauma for seven years. There was no Garda appeal for information, notwithstanding that the incident happened on a splendid summer's day when there were lots of vessels and people at sea. We need to get closure and explanations on this. I have told the Minister about the membership of the board. While it hires in expertise, there was no meaningful engagement. Do the members of the MCIB visit the scenes of accidents? Do they have seagoing experience? Could they carry out an investigation without considering the GPS report? It is issues like that. It was stated in the report that there was a large floating tyre which may have played a role in both men going overboard. The tyre was not recovered and the witness who said there was a tyre in the water later changed his statement. They do not go to inquests at the request of gardaí or the coroner.

There are too many unanswered questions here when two lives were lost. There are 138 lives lost annually in maritime and river incidents in Ireland. The Minister makes a huge play of road safety and bringing down the death toll there, which I support, but 138 deaths annually is a staggering figure yet there are no investigations. If, unfortunately, someone is killed on the roads, the scene is secured and sealed off, there is a huge public inquiry and requests for information are made. None of that happened in this case. Gardaí do not have the equipment to go out but they can look for public information and assistance. They refused to do that. I am very unhappy at the way this was handled by Dungarvan Garda station and the MCIB. I thank the Minister for meeting the family and I appeal to him to look at the matter under section 40.

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