Three years after the Taoiseach omitted to appoint a marine Minister to Cabinet, key marine functions are to be transferred out of the existing Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.
The Department of Transport is to assume responsibility for sea ports, maritime safety, search and rescue and marine surveying from January 1st.
Staff at the department, including those assigned to the Irish Coast Guard, Maritime Safety Directorate, Marine Survey Office, were informed yesterday of the move, which is expected to be made public during the Government Estimates today. The move will not affect the physical location of the Irish Coast Guard communications bases in Donegal and Kerry, and the rescue bases at Dublin airport, Shannon, Co Clare, Waterford and Sligo.
A department spokesman denied there was any immediate plan to transfer responsibility for fisheries and aquaculture to the Department of Agriculture and Food. The developments follow a re-organisation of the inland fisheries sector signalled this week by Minister of State Pat "the Cope" Gallagher, under which the central and regional fisheries boards will be subsumed into a new national inland fisheries authority.
The Taoiseach's failure to appoint a dedicated marine Minister to Cabinet after the 2002 general election caused an outcry among marine industry groups, and the title was subsequently awarded to then minister for communications and natural resources, Dermot Ahern. The Taoiseach said at the time that it was felt the inclusion of "marine" in the department's name would have made it far too long.