Much done, but much remains to be done for safety on water

Little political priority is attached to marine safety, writes Lorna Siggins , Marine Correspondent.

Little political priority is attached to marine safety, writes Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent.

Although Pisces skipper Patrick Barden was found not guilty of the manslaughter of five people on board his boat in July 2002, Judge Pat McCartan noted that the boat owner would "continue to carry the horror of this tragedy" for the remainder of his life.

Barden was found guilty at Wexford Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday of a lesser charge of running an unsafe vessel. The fact that the maximum fine was €1,000 has caused considerable upset to the families of the five who died off Fethard-on-Sea, Co Wexford - James Cooney (60), his son-in-law Séamus Doyle (33), Mr Cooney's grandson, Mark Doyle (13), John Cullen (44) and Martin Roche (67).

The fine "doesn't make sense", Paddy Doyle, father of Séamus and grandfather of Mark, told reporters after the verdict. Séamus's wife, Rita, had lost a father, husband and son, and the feeling of loss would always be with them.

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Barden had taken a group of nine people out on his boat on a fishing trip for a fee of €150. The boat sank a mile off Fethard-on-Sea. Barden and four others survived, but five people died in the tragedy.

Judge McCartan was bound by the relevant legislation in place at the time of the accident - Section 4 of the 1981 Merchant Shipping Act. This was replaced this year by regulations in the new Maritime Safety Act 2005, under which the maximum fine for such an offence is €250,000 and/or two years in prison.

Little political priority has been attached to marine safety issues by successive governments and their electorates.

Certainly, there have been dramatic improvements in the State's ability to rescue at sea and on inland waters through the establishment of the Irish Coast Guard. However, a commitment to more preventive legislation was missed over a decade ago after four people lost their lives in a ferry accident off west Cork.

Vincent Moriarty (45) and his daughter, Tracey (11), from Castletownbere, Patrick Maguire (30), single, Castletownshend, and Patrick O'Neill (48), single, Castletownbere, died when an overloaded ferry with badly-distributed cargo sank on February 24th 1994 in Castletownbere harbour. One of the six recommendations in the subsequent investigation included a system of licensing or qualifying the operators and skippers of small passenger vessels and boats.

Eight years later, just months before the sinking of the Pisces, two initiatives have altered the marine safety seascape. A new Maritime Safety Directorate was set up in February 2002, under the Department of the Marine's aegis, and a separate independent Marine Casualty Investigation Board was set up that June.

This has prompted a raft of new legislation, including new regulations signed into law last year on the compulsory use of life-jackets or personal flotation devices on recreational craft less than 7 metres (23 feet) in length.

Masters of vessels over 7 metres must have a life-jacket or personal flotation device for everyone on board, while children up to the age of 16 must wear the safety equipment on all pleasure craft, regardless of length. Water-skiers and jet-ski users are also covered.

Owners of passenger boats must hold valid safety certificates and licences, which are subject to inspection by the safety directorate's marine survey office.

The new Maritime Safety Act includes the €250,000 fine for unseaworthy craft and contains guidelines on powers available to local authorities and other relevant authorities to regulate leisure craft in their areas.

As Minister of State Pat "The Cope" Gallagher said yesterday, new competency requirements for skippers of passenger boats will come into force next April.

The Merchant Shipping (Passenger Boat Manning) Regulations 2005 are based on a key recommendation in the investigation board's Pisces report.

Concern has been expressed about the ability of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to police the new rules and at the decision to pass yet more responsibility on to the Garda.

The Naval Service is not empowered to act if its officials spot safety deficiencies at sea or in port, but extra marine survey personnel have been drafted in.

Lt-Cmdr John Leech, chief executive of Irish Water Safety, believes that there is much better public awareness of safety issues and says his office gets regular calls now about potential breaches.