Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 264: To ask the Minister for Transport if his attention has been drawn to the fact that only about one quarter of the world's fleet of 85,000 commercial ships have registration and flagging arrangements that are inconsistent with article 91 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, yet a disproportionate one half of all ships trading into Irish sea ports and almost all lo-lo container vessels, operate outside the UNCLOS requirement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10371/08]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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The registration and flagging arrangements for ships is determined by the internal legal systems of each Member State of the United Nations. UNCLOS Article 91 sets out the requirements for the Nationality of Ships as follows:

Every Member State shall fix the conditions for the grant of its nationality to ships, for the registration of ships in its territory, and for the right to fly its flag. Ships have the nationality of the State whose flag they are entitled to fly. There must exist a genuine link between the State and the ship. Every State shall issue to ships to which it has granted the right to fly its flag documents to that effect.

As can be seen from the above the obligation is on the State in which the ship is registered to comply with this Article and the Convention does not provide for port state intervention in relation to this matter. Therefore, it is not possible to confirm the figures quoted by the Deputy. However, all ships trading into Irish ports are subject to port state control and they must comply with the international conventions in relation to safety, security, pollution prevention and living and working conditions.