Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, to the Chamber. I am seeking a statement from the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine on the legislation that enforces the removal of abandoned vessels from Irish waters and what plans, if any, there are to strengthen that legislation to deal with the extensive occurrence of vessels being abandoned.

This is an important issue and a legacy issue in many rural communities. There is a blight in our territorial waters.In many areas, vessels have been abandoned for decades. Unfortunately, legislation has not been strong enough and local authorities have not been empowered with financing and a legislative mandate to ensure that the issue can be addressed.

This matter came to a head a year ago when a major vessel of nearly 2,500 tonnes ran aground at Ballycotton, County Cork. It still lies there. It is a serious issue for the local authority and local community, and how we deal with it will be an important question for Ireland. What happened in Ballycotton is an extreme example, but vessels are constantly being abandoned at piers and in the waters of coastal communities. There seems to be very little progress, if any, on ensuring that they are moved.

We need a genuine debate with the Department about how it will deal with this matter, which is a blight and littering of a different nature. If there were cars abandoned all over our roads, we would not leave them there. We are not empowering anyone or putting financial measures in place to ensure that we can clean up our seas. We have debated removing sea litter from our coasts, but we have had a poor debate about how to deal with this legacy issue of abandoned vessels. I need to see movement from the Government accordingly. That would involve legislation, budgets and a different mentality about how we will deal with the issue. In this Commencement matter, I am primarily trying to ensure that the Government is aware that this legacy issue is affecting coastal communities the length and breadth of our country and that nothing has been done about it for decades. We need to see movement. I hope that we can start a conversation this morning and put appropriate legislation and moneys in place to ensure that last year's extreme event in Ballycotton is not repeated and, more importantly, the legacy issues of recent decades can be cleaned up.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Naughton.

The relevant legislation that allows for the removal of abandoned vessels in Irish waters such as that referred to by the Senator is the Merchant Shipping (Salvage and Wreck) Act 1993, which gives effect to the International Convention on Salvage 1989, to which Ireland is a signatory state. Section 40 of the Act provides that the Minister for Transport, "shall have the general superintendence ... of all matters relating to every wrecked or stranded vessel or other wreck." The Act also sets out the responsibilities of other bodies from an operational perspective. Sections 51 and 52 are of particular note in terms of the duty of the owner and appropriate authorities. Section 51 places the initial responsibility for removing a wreck on the owner of the vessel, stating that, "the owner of the wreck at the time of its sinking, wrecking, stranding, grounding or abandonment shall as soon as possible raise and remove it or otherwise render it harmless." The Act also provides for a number of appropriate authorities - a harbour authority, a local authority or the Commissioners of Irish Lights - to raise and remove the wreck or otherwise render it harmless if they consider it is likely to become an obstruction or danger to navigation or a threat of harm to the marine environment or related interests, including the health of the public.

Separate provisions apply regarding the sale of wrecks and the appointed receivers of wrecks. The Act allows for the receiver of a wreck to sell the vessel where its owner cannot be located. However, the Senator will appreciate that a scenario may arise wherein a vessel in such a condition cannot be sold and holds no significant monetary value and, therefore, its sale is not a viable option. While the Act allows for the removal of the wreck, it does not contain provisions regarding the costs associated with that removal where the sale of the wreck is not possible and the owners of the vessel cannot be located.

The Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks 2007 provides a legal basis for the State to remove, or have removed at a ship owner's expense, a wreck that has the potential to affect adversely the safety of lives, goods and property at sea, as well as the marine environment. Ship owners are obliged to maintain insurance or provide other financial security to cover the costs of wreck removal. As the Senator stated, primary legislation is required to ratify the convention. It is intended to progress that legislation as part of the future marine shipping Bill. However, it must be noted that the convention does not cover all wreck removal scenarios. For example, when the owner of a vessel cannot be located and insurance details cannot be found, pursuing the owner for costs is very difficult. The Senator may be interested to hear that on foot of a recommendation in a recent report published by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board on the grounding of a wreck on the Irish coast in 2020, the Department of Transport has established a working group to explore the risks and potential costs to the State presented by derelict ships entering Irish territorial waters and coming ashore in Ireland and make proposals for means to identify, monitor, track and interdict derelict ships before they endanger other ships and seafarers in the vicinity.

Incidence of wreaks coming ashore on the Irish coast are rare. The Department of Transport will continue to be available to support relevant appropriate authorities in the exercise of its functions as out in the legislation in question.

Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. It is probably in line with what we have been receiving. The clarity in his response is very limited. In particular, we cannot even find the owner of a ship wreck. That is probably the position currently in County Cork. This is a legacy issue. We have had ship wrecks onshore for decades with no movement to remove them. That is the primary issue. Legislation, debate and a change in ethos on this issue in Government Buildings are needed. The Government view on this is that the vessel is doing no harm and to leave it there. We have moved away from that. If there were abandoned cars in every estate in Ireland we would do something about it. The issue I raised is a feature in our harbours and there does not seem to be any drive from national Government to do something about it. We need to empower local authorities financially and to change the legislation. We need to take on board the 2007 convention that has not been enacted and that needs to be brought forward. A body of work needs to be done. Otherwise, this blight on our marine wildlife and environment will continue due to a lack of clarity and action on this issue on the part of the Government.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I take on board fully the points made by the Senator and he is correct in what he said. Particularly as we move towards legislating for marine protected areas, there is an opportunity not only to introduce legislation but to make sure it is aligned on the protection of our marine environment.

In particular regarding the MV Alta, it was washed up on 16 February 2020 and Cork County Council took the lead in dealing with the wreck under the 1993 Act, as appropriate. The ministerial powers under the 1993 Act are indirect and refer to the appointment of authorised officers. It is the role of the appropriate authority, in this case Cork County Council, which has taken a number of steps to discharge its responsibilities under the Merchant Shipping (Salvage and Wreck) Act 1993 by removing stores, including fuels and lubricants, from the vessel and engaging consultants to carry out a number of reports on the vessel.These included reports on the wreck compiled by a marine surveyor, an environmental and ecological impact study and an assessment of hazardous material, but I take on board the points made regarding the Nairobi convention, which will require a specific item of legislation for its enactment. It is timely and useful the Senator raised this issue here this morning.