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

Similarly to other countries, Ireland is entitled and obliged by international maritime law to fix the conditions that will apply to the granting of its nationality to ships, the registration of ships in its territory and the right to fly the Irish flag. My Department is the national authority when it comes to preparing legislation relating to ship registration requirements in Ireland. When the decision was taken to extend the scope of mandatory registration to new categories of ships operating in domestic waters in Ireland, I was conscious of the impact that such requirements might have on ships that visit our country.

For this reason, section 11 provides that a registration confirming nationality of another state will be an acceptable form of registration for compliance purposes with the registration requirements of the Bill. Furthermore, in recognition of the fact that some visiting ships, in particular, non-commercial ships, may not have such registration confirming nationality, a new category of visitor registration is being introduced under section 24. The section establishes a requirement for the registration of personal watercraft, recreational craft 24 m and greater in load line length and small fast powered craft owned by people visiting the State and operating domestically when the craft is not registered in another country. This will accommodate the use of such craft in Irish waters for short periods not exceeding three months, that is, for people on holidays or taking part in sports events, in cases where the craft is not registered in another state and would otherwise be required under section 11 to have full registration on the Irish register of ships in order to operate domestically.

In view of the fact that the requirement to register on the Irish register of ships is being extended to small commercial angling boats, as described in section 11, it is important to extend the possibility of visitor registration to such vessels if they are visiting Ireland and operating domestically. Essentially, this relates to vessels that are not required to be registered in the home country but which are visiting Ireland where they must be registered. It allows them to take up a form of visitor registration for a short period.

Amendments Nos. 13 and 14 seek to amend section 24(1) and (2)(a) to include small angling boats, as described in section 11(1)(c). In the absence of such amendments, visiting angling boats fall into this category and would be required to have full registration on the Irish register of ships to operate domestically. The option of visitor registration provides for a less onerous registration procedure for small visiting angling boats which only propose to operate in Irish waters for a period not exceeding three months. Visitor registration will not confer nationality, but it will facilitate the State's awareness of the vessels operating domestically in Irish waters. This will also assist in the identification of owners of ships if search and rescue operations are required.

Visitor registration will be a simplified form of registration for a nominal fee in order not to impact negatively on tourism. We wish to facilitate tourism. Every effort will be made to maximise the use of the online facility for this category of registration. It is envisaged that awareness will be promoted through tourism and transport channels, websites, etc.

Amendment No. 15 is a technical amendment to the wording of section 24(2)(c).