Joe O'Toole (Independent)

On the question of safety I support this section. As far as I can recall, the section deals with those who steer, drive, manoeuvre or pilot their boats. A significant number of the call-outs are by those who have been careless in their planning and have taken no notice of the weather. They think that because they have a new boat with a big engine they do not have to worry about anything. Suddenly they find that at a headland they are not ready for the force 7, 8 or 9 winds on the other side. There should be a requirement in passage planning for any distance that people check on the weather.

Met Éireann is helpful and good at what it does but in terms of improving safety at sea it requires significantly greater resources. For most of the coastland of the UK and even of Northern Ireland, it is possible to get a localised sea area forecast. For example, one can get a full forecast for the day from, say, Lizard to Land's End, a basic 30 miles. In Ireland the sea area forecast, which is on the radio three or four times a day, covers Slyne Head to Malin Head, and down the whole Irish Sea including Roches Point. The difficulty is that it can never be completely correct, particularly for small boats.

The Minister of State knows as well as I do that the weather in Dingle Bay might be quite placid but around Blasket Sound to the north side of the peninsula it could be roaring a force 6, 7 or 8 and could be a yachtsman's storm. If more resources were provided to Met Éireann it could, in addition to the national forecast provided to RTE radio, provide a more detailed sea area forecast to the local radio stations, such as Hyland Radio, North West Radio and Radio Kerry. For example, Radio Kerry could give the forecast from Mizen Head to Valentia, Valentia to the Blaskets, the Blaskets to Kerry Head, Loop Head or wherever. In this way one would get a much more detailed forecast. That should be done. Met Éireann has the ability to do this but it does not have the resources to make it available.

Met Éireann also provides personalised weather forecasts. This morning I asked it for the detailed four day forecast over the next three or four days for the Fastnet and Plymouth areas which it would e-mail to me. It will provide that kind of forecast very effectively but many do not know it is available. Such a service should be more freely available. Met Éireann is required to pay for it and is entitled to charge for it. I make no complaint about that. It does its work well and is efficient. However, in terms of safety the State should be prepared to pay for that type of forecast. More money should be put into Met Éireann.

Apart from the creation of Waterways Ireland following the Good Friday Agreement, Irish Lights and Trinity House in the UK merged into one. Nobody noticed, there were no arguments and the new arrangement is working well. At the time I was concerned that the same arrangement were not made with the weather service. Had it been done it would enable people on both islands to get the kind of weather forecasting the boating fraternity can get in the UK, where a narrow sea area forecast along the coast is provided. We need a similarly detailed forecast in Ireland for greater safety, to create greater awareness and to prevent people taking chances when going out on boats.