Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

As a fellow Galwegian, I am proud to welcome the Minister of State to the House. I am very happy with his elevation to the post. They could not have picked a better man. Having said those nice things, I will now launch into what I came to say.

I served as a member of the transport and communications committee. This paperwork I have in front of me comprises the submissions that were made to the committee. The committee completed several hours work. In the final analysis, when it should have been carrying out pre-legislative scrutiny, the election arose. In light of that, will the Minister of State refer this Bill back to the committee?

There are a number of disturbing facts about the Bill. The first of these relates to the reports of Róisín Lacey and Captain Clinch, both of whom are experts brought in to look at marine accident investigations. They engaged with stakeholders, and both of their reports contained strong recommendations. It is a matter of serious concern that, as Members of the Oireachtas, we were not able to see the Clinch report. I have no idea why the report was withheld. The legislation before us contains lots of good measures, but we are being asked to progress it with our hands tied behind our backs. We have no idea what Captain Clinch said in his report. The Minister of State is going to be progressing the Bill through the Oireachtas. It is vitally important that we be given access to the Clinch report. If that requires people taking an oath of secrecy, then let us do that. Ultimately, however, allow us to be sure of what we are doing as we progress this legislation.

There are many issues with respect to accidents in the maritime area. I would have liked it if the legislation had covered all forms of transport, namely air, sea and land, being covered by a single office responsible for all accidents. I have no idea why that is not the case. If the Bill goes back to the transport committee, many of the recommendations previously made to it by experts may find their way into the legislation. I am not saying all the recommendations were ignored, but some of the key ones were.

It is no secret that Michael Kingston was one of the drivers behind the professional and expert advice given to the committee. Mr. Kingston's father died in the Whiddy Island disaster. The man has a deep concern about everything to do with marine accidents. It is peculiar that the Minister of State, who has only been in office a few weeks, is suddenly being asked to bring this major Bill through the Oireachtas. Very few members of this House were on the transport committee. As a result, they would have very little knowledge of what took place at that committee. I am sure it is the same in the Lower House in the context of people having first-hand knowledge of the debates that took place.

There has been a problem with the Department of Transport with respect to marine accident investigations. I am not sure if the Minister of State has been advised about his Department losing a case before the European Court of Justice in respect of people who were appointed to various roles. That is a damning indictment of the Department's disregard for what it should be doing.

In the past couple of days, information has come to me with respect to the appointment of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board. I am not going to go into either names or the actual appointment made because it would be unfair on the person involved to do so. It is better that I do not say who it is or what position the person holds, but I will speak to the Minister of State privately about the matter. I want to put on record that there is serious concern on two fronts, however. One is the composition of the interview board. It is believed that at least two members of that interview board should have recused themselves and not been involved. It is further believed that person who was the subject of the senior appointment made in this area does not have the commensurate level of expertise. In that context, I can only recount what has been passed to me. I have no first-hand knowledge of this, but the Minister of State will be able to get the facts. I do not want to mention the names of the people who should have recused themselves; neither do I not want to mention the name of the person or the position they have been appointed to. We need to look into these matters, and we need to be certain.

Marine accidents have been a significant problem. One could look at the way in which matters were managed in the context of Rescue 116. There were serious problems and issues which should have been taken on board long before that vehicle crashed. There were issues with respect to the lighting in the cockpit and the GPS maps that were used. There were many issues involved. At the end of the day, nobody has been held to account for the things that went wrong. The Department of Transport, the Irish Coast Guard and CHC were all involved. The report is available for people to read. I will not go into that today.

Following the loss of Caitríona Lucas in Kilkee, there was an inquest into that misadventure. Many questions have been asked about the way in which we are looking at activity that leads to marine accidents. This incident was an accident. Ms Lucas was alive for 17 minutes after she went into the water. She was airlifted out of the water and died. That is a really sad situation.

I ask the Minister of State to give a commitment that he will send the Bill back to the committee. A new iteration of the committee is going to be put in place. The Minister of State can impose a timeline if he wants and can tell the committee that it must deliver by a certain date. Let us go back to look at the recommendations that were made and give the Department an opportunity to explain why it rejected certain recommendations. It is grossly unfair on the Minister of State to ask him to push through legislation with which he has not been involved. There are recommendations which have not been taken on board. For example, why are the recommendations with respect to the Cape Town Agreement not at the heart of this legislation?

I am not going to put the Minister of State on the spot. It is unfair to ask him to bring the legislation through. I ask him to send it back to the committee. When it goes back, we will have an opportunity to revisit the recommendations, speak to the Department and find out why it is rejecting those recommendations. This legislation will last for a long time after the Minister of State and I have gone from these Houses. It is important that when it is passed, the Minister of State is happy with it. People on the Opposition side or speaking from this floor may not be happy with all of it, but since the Minister of State's name will be on this on the end of the day, the most important thing is that he is happy that the legislation meets the requirements relating to this vital area.

We are an island nation and it is vitally important that we have the best marine accident investigation system in the world. I think the Minister of State is the man to drive it. I ask him, therefore, to send the legislation back to the committee, let us have another look at it and see if we can get answers as to why recommendations are being refused, and let us move forward and get this legislation passed. It is important for the safety of mariners and anybody else who uses our seas, rivers and lands.

I will leave it at that. I thank the Minister of State once again. I am sorry it was not as nice as he might have expected, but there you go.