The Minister, when introducing the Oil Pollution (Civil Liability and Compensation) (Amendment) Bill earlier this month, reminded the House that in Ireland we succeeded earlier this year in averting a serious oil spill. An incident occurred on 28 January 2002 off the coast of Donegal involving a 22 year old single hull Panamanian registered tanker, the Princess Eva, which had the potential for pollution similar to the Prestige or the Erika. The vessel was carrying 55,000 tonnes of heavy oil from Copenhagen to the USA. On 28 January 2003, the vessel experienced heavy weather off the north west coast of Ireland. Following an accident on board in which two crew members were killed and another severely injured, the vessel entered Donegal Bay where the two bodies were transferred to shore. An oil spill was averted due to the actions taken by the Irish Coast Guard and the maritime safety directorate of my Department.