Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Mattie McGrath for presenting this Bill. The Government will not oppose it on Second Stage. I am in no doubt that the motives of Deputy Mattie McGrath and the contributions of Deputy Ferris to the Bill are beyond criticism. They are the highest sort of motives, which I applaud. There is a case to be made, which the Government recognises by not opposing the Bill.

The Marine Casualty Investigation Board, or the board as I will refer to it from here on, was established under the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) Act 2000. It is an independent State agency tasked with examining and, if necessary, carrying out investigations into all types of marine casualties to, or on board, Irish registered vessels worldwide and other vessels in Irish territorial waters and inland waterways. The board publishes reports on its website into each of these investigations.

The board's objective in investigating a marine casualty is to determine its circumstances and its causes with a view to making recommendations to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and the commercial and recreational maritime community for the avoidance of similar marine casualties in the future, thereby improving the safety of life at sea and on inland waterways. The board is a non-prosecutorial body, in that it does not enforce laws or carry out prosecutions. It is not the purpose of an investigation carried out by the board to apportion blame or fault.

It should be noted that the board's investigations are not carried out by the board members. Rather, they are carried out by the board's panel of external investigators. This panel was renewed earlier this year following an advertising campaign conducted in late 2018. Appointments to the panel of investigators are for a period of three years. The current panel of seven investigators consists of personnel holding technical qualifications as naval architects, marine engineers or deck officers and with decades of at-sea service on board a wide range of vessels. It reflects broad-based maritime competence and experience of relevance in undertaking independent investigations.

The membership of the board itself is governed by section 9 of the 2000 Act. It is this section that Deputy Mattie McGrath is proposing to amend via the Bill. As provided for in section 9, there are currently five board members. Three, including the chairperson, have been appointed by me as Minister. There are also the chief surveyor of the marine survey office and a nominee of the Secretary General of my Department.

The amendments proposed place an onus on the Minister when appointing the three members to the board to have regard to the desirability of the persons having appropriate knowledge, qualifications or experience in matters connected to the functions of the board. A similar onus is put on the Secretary General when, if there is a vacancy in the office of the chief surveyor, he or she is nominating an additional board member under section 14(4) of the Act. I have no objections to the formal introduction of such provisions into the legislation. Indeed, a case can be made for such, and were this a Government Bill establishing a new statutory agency, I would expect that similar provisions would be included.

In practice, while the Act is silent on what the Minister should take into account when appointing members to the board, such knowledge, qualifications or experience has been taken into consideration when advertising for and assessing potential board members. We have been explicit about this, for example, when advertising the position of chairperson late last year. Putting the requirement into the legislation itself is a welcome development copper-fastening the current routine. Equally, the Secretaries General when appointing their nominees to the board over the years, as provided for under section 9(1)(b), have appointed officers involved either in maritime affairs or accident investigation in other transport modes.

It must be mentioned that, while maritime experience would be most welcome when it comes to appointing members to the board, it does not always follow that suitably-qualified candidates will exist and apply for such membership. Furthermore, additional expertise and experience in areas such as legal, accident or health and safety management, corporate governance and management, the reviewing, editing and development of reports, and leadership and communications skills are also of value to the important work of the board and can be taken into consideration in ensuring the appointment of a well-qualified, balanced board membership to carry out its duties.

I welcome Deputy Mattie McGrath's ongoing interest in and concern for maritime safety and look forward to hearing other Deputies' contributions to this debate.

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