A jury at an inquest into a family boating tragedy yesterday recommended it should be made compulsory for life jackets to be worn.
A survivor of the accident off the Co Louth coast when four people drowned last August said no one had put on the lifejackets on board because they were considered awkward and got caught in fishing lines.
The mother of two young brothers who drowned claimed the Irish Marine Emergency Services had not taken at face value the telephone call alerting it the boat was an hour late returning to shore.
An IMES spokesman said the initial 999 call was simply that the vessel was overdue. Within a minute of the call, it had broadcast to vessels in the area for sightings of the boat. Within two minutes it had paged the local IMES coastal unit and it confirmed there were people in the water.
The spokesman said this was confirmed within nine minutes of the call. One minute later the helicopter was alerted.
The helicopter was at the scene within 10 minutes of take-off and rescued the girls and Mr Gary Grant.
The spokesman said the incident manager was at the scene for two weeks after the accident while the search continued for Stuart Callaghan and Thomas Og Callaghan.
Ms Cora Callaghan told the inquest the IMES rang back 10 minutes after her sister-in-law phoned it and asked were they sure the boat had not landed on another part of the shore.
It emerged it was another 30 minutes before the coxswain of the Clogherhead lifeboat was paged to launch the boat and the IMES helicopter had begun winching the three survivors to shore when the lifeboat was launched.
Mr Des Russell, brother of one of those who died, James Russell (69), Sheepgrange, Drogheda, asked did it not appear strange the helicopter was at the scene before the lifeboat, when the helicopter had to travel from Dublin.
In relation to Mr Russell, Paul Callaghan (12) from Blackstick, Ardee, and Paul's cousin, Stuart Callaghan (20), Cappogue, Dunleer, the jury found all drowned as a result of an accident on August 29th. The fourth person who drowned was Thomas Og Callaghan (8), brother of Paul Callaghan. His body was washed ashore in Kilkeel, Co Down, and the inquest into his death will be held in Northern Ireland.
The survivors were sisters Maeve (10) and Sarah (12) McGuinness, Duleek and Mr Gary Grant, Readypenny, Ardee.