Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 253 and 257 together.

Prior to the establishment of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board in 2002, Reports of Preliminary Inquiries into marine casualties, such as those into the sinking of the Evelyn Marie and the Carraig Una, were considered confidential to the Minister and such reports were not published.

The purpose of a Preliminary Inquiry was to establish the circumstances of the casualty and decide whether a Formal Investigation was warranted based on available evidence. The publication of findings, or making such reports available to other parties outside the context of a Formal Investigation, was considered undesirable on the grounds of potential risk to natural justice procedures in relation to any of the parties affected by the tragedies. As the Preliminary Inquiries in question were carried out on the understanding that they would not be published or made available to other parties outside the context of a formal investigation, it would not be appropriate to do so now.