Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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The sinking of the Asgard II on 11 September was greeted with much sadness and shock. The Asgard II had served the country well since its commissioning in 1981, having been designed specifically for training purposes. The training vessel carried thousands of trainees and docked in hundreds of ports. It was a great ambassador for the country. It was fortunate nobody was injured when the ship sank and thanks to the speedy action taken by Captain Newport and his crew, everybody returned safely.

It has been said the Asgard II will hardly be salvageable, although I understand a survey is being carried out on the ship which is 70 m under water. It has been indicated that it will take approximately €5.6 million to build a replacement. Now that there are major cutbacks and a reduction in tax receipts, there is surely a case to be made that the Government can make a saving.

The Jeanie Johnston was built at a cost of approximately €16 million and was the subject of much criticism at the time. It is now available to the Government and everybody concerned with it is more than willing to allow it to be used by the State.

I will give a brief overview of what has happened with the Jeanie Johnston since its commissioning. From 2003 to 2005 it carried over 300 sail trainees and 1,400 passengers. In 2006 Rivercruise Ireland took over operation of the ship and from 2006 to 2008 it carried approximately 980 sail trainees and over 2,500 passengers.

The Jeanie Johnston's first voyages in 2002 were from Cork to Fenit to Dublin. In January 2003 it sailed from Dublin to Belfast to Waterford and back to Fenit for its maiden transatlantic voyage to West Palm Beach, Florida and up along the east coast of the United States and Canada before returning to Fenit. Since 2006 it has visited the Belgian port of Ostend, the French ports of Brest and Cherbourg and the Spanish ports of La Coruna and Porto de Ferrol. She has also visited the UK ports of Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool and Milford Haven.

The operation of the Jeanie Johnston has been self-funded since 2004 and over 200,000 people have visited during its port visits since 2002. It is primarily promoted as a sail training vessel and available for private sailing charters and functions. As I indicated, the vessel has proved to be very successful. It is regularly invited to maritime festivals all over Europe. In 2005 the Parade of Sail out of Waterford was led by three Irish ships, the Asgard II, the Dunbrody and the Jeanie Johnston, as part of the Tall Ships festival. The Jeanie Johnston continued with the fleet to join the Tall Ships festival in Cherbourg. In 2007 it was involved in the re-enactment of the pilgrimage from Ireland to Santiago de Compostela and the flight of the earls voyage from Rathmullan to Quilleboeff. In 2008 it was involved in the opening of the Southampton boat show and the principal attraction at the Cork Week international sailing competition at Crosshaven. Its crew was twice asked to re-enact the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, from Waterford and Dublin.

This is an opportunity for the State to save money. The ship is available and I have outlined its track record, which is impeccable. It has proved to be a very robust vessel on the high seas and has crossed the north Atlantic. It has withstood all the tests expected of it to prove it is a very good training vessel.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the House will be aware, on 11 September the national sail training vessel, Asgard II, sank in the Bay of Biscay off the coast of France. The ship was on a cruise from Falmouth in the United Kingdom to La Rochelle and on board were five crew and 20 trainees, all of whom were evacuated successfully and are safe and well. The decision to abandon the vessel and take to the life rafts was made by the captain because the vessel was taking in water at a far greater rate than the pumps could handle. Weather conditions at the time were moderate and all trainees and crew were rescued by the French lifeboat service and taken to the island of Belle He.

I compliment the captain and crew of Asgard II on the professional manner in which all the trainees were quickly and safely taken off the vessel. I also pay tribute to the French lifeboat service for quickly coming to the location and bringing everybody safely ashore. Following a meeting of the board of Coiste an Asgard and subsequent consultations with insurance company representatives, it was decided to undertake an initial survey of the vessel to establish her status prior to any decisions being made on salvage.

The vessel was recently located on the seabed in 80 m of water, close to where she sank. The initial underwater inspection has been carried out using a remotely operated vehicle. This indicates that the vessel is upright and largely intact. Damage to one of the hull planks has been observed but it is not possible, at this stage, to determine whether this has resulted from impact with the seabed or was the original cause of the sinking. Until further detailed investigations are carried out, it is not possible to state whether Asgard II can be salvaged.

The board of Coiste an Asgard is considering the question of procuring a suitable temporary replacement vessel for Asgard II. In that regard a number of factors must be taken into account, including the suitability of the vessel for sail training, number and qualifications of crew required and operation and maintenance costs. The availability of funding will also be a key factor. At this stage the Minister for Defence is not in a position to indicate when a decision may be made as to whether to procure a temporary replacement vessel. If it is decided to procure a temporary replacement vessel, all options will be considered.