The owner of the Pisces put to sea for a day's fishing that would earn him €150 on the day it sank in July 2002, resulting in the deaths of five people.
The vessel's owner and skipper, Patrick Barden, of Fethard-on-Sea, Co Wexford, told Sgt Bart Slattery at New Ross Garda station on December 20th, 2002, that it was the third occasion he had put to sea with anglers.
Mr Barden is charged with the manslaughter of James Cooney (60), his son-in-law, Séamus Doyle (33) and grandson Mark (13), John Cullen (44) and Martin Roche (67), all of Co Wexford, on July 28th, 2002.
He is further charged with owning and operating a dangerously unsafe boat and creating a substantial risk of death by putting to sea a vessel that was unseaworthy, unstable, overloaded and had insufficient lifesaving equipment.
In a statement read yesterday to Wexford Circuit Criminal Court, Mr Barden said that when he bought the boat in May 2002, it was in good condition.
"I never registered the boat with the Department of the Marine. I never obtained a fishing licence for the boat, while I did not have a survey carried out, for I had been looking at the boat in the sea for three years and had seen it come in with lots of boxes." He said seven people had been on board on the two previous occasions he had taken anglers out, and nine on the third.
On the second trip, a pipe came off the cooling system and pumped water into the boat. He said this problem was rectified.
Referring to the day of the fatal trip, he said: "It was sluggish coming back. I said to Jim it was lazy coming back and said to the young fella to step over port side, as she was too slow coming back. Within seconds the boat rolled to port side when I said to the lads to get into the centre of the boat.
"It then rolled to starboard and kept going. I was on the VHF to Tommy Roche who was fishing nearby, but I could not see him at the time. The water started to come in, the boat started going down and I said to Tommy, 'She's sinking'. The next thing I knew I was on the bottom."
Brian Hogan, chief surveyor, Department of the Marine and Natural Resources, told the court the Pisces was unsuitable for "carrying people because it did not meet the stability criteria."