Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 8 proposes to address the issue of ships that should be entitled to register on the Irish register of ships but do not yet hold the requisite certificates or licences to allow this to happen. For example, a ship that requires certification or a licence to register on the register as a particular type of ship, such as a passenger ship or a sea-fishing boat, can be granted a non-operative registration under section 18 to facilitate the issue of a passenger ship certificate or a sea-fishing boat licence prior to the final registration on the Irish register of ships. Such ships will be granted a non-operative registration initially under section 18(3) to facilitate certification or licensing. Therefore, the Bill must facilitate this non-operative registration on the register in advance of the completion of full registration.

Section 12(1)(c) as it stands would preclude the non-operative registration of ships on the register by requiring the holding of relevant certificates or documentation in advance of any kind of registration on the register, which is not the intention. For this reason, the proposed amendment to section 12 removes paragraph (c), and the intent of the provision has been amalgamated into amendment No. 12 to section 18(6)(l) of the Bill.

Amendment No. 12 is a consequential amendment arising from amendment No. 8. It arises from the removal of section 12(1)(c). I consider it important that the intent of the provision should be provided for elsewhere in the Bill. Section 18(5) enables regulations to be made in respect of ship registration applications, and subsection (6) provides a non-exhaustive list of matters that can be dealt with in those regulations. The purpose of the proposed amendment is to include, as part of the registration application requirements generally, the possibility of a requirement relating to compliance with any acceptable conventions, the Merchant Shipping Acts and the Sea Pollution Acts, as well as the production of any necessary certificates or other documents.