Dáil debates

Tuesday, 14 July 2020

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Marine Casualty Investigations Board

10:55 pm

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have agreed with the other Deputies to take the full two minutes. There are a number of issues with the response from the Minister of State. There is a context to this. The Government and senior Ministers received an email in recent days from a maritime lawyer, Mr. Michael Kingston, who is the son of one of the victims of the Whiddy Island disaster. He outlined in that email his concerns that there has been a long track record in terms of a failure to tackle the issue of independence at the Marine Casualty Investigation Board. He is not alone in that regard. Many voices have raised the same concern.

To be honest, it is extraordinary that the case was defended. The issue was that there was a clear need for independence. Two of the five members of the board came from one Department. It is very difficult to see how anyone could have argued that was independent. I appreciate what the Minister of State said about impartiality, but it seems very apparent that the board was not independent. There are issues with that and there is a need for independence, which is required in the EU legislation.

It is remarkable that this judgment has not received more attention. The European Court of Justice has found that in the context of maritime safety, this State is in breach of EU legislation. It matters because the Department is responsible for safety on the water and for the legislation and relevant codes of practice. Of course it is important that recommendations are made following an incident or tragedy by a body which is adequately independent. That issue has been raised for several years now. I raised the issue last year, but many others have raised it for many years.

There is a strong view that the board was not adequately independent and that was problematic. How much has this case cost? The Minister of State referred to enhancing the organisational independence of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board. I hope that happens. Perhaps it needs to be entirely reconstituted. There may be a need to re-examine some of the cases it has dealt with or, at the very least, its approach in recent years. The State has incurred costs and it needs to accept that it is in the wrong and that there is a need for a fully independent body. We need to examine what happened in the past and how we got to the situation.

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