John O'Donnell knows only too well where the dangers lie on our seas, rivers and lakes. Lorna Siggins reports

We shouldn't need a law to make us wear life jackets. It should be an instinct, a mindset for anyone venturing onto the water, according to John O'Donnell. It's an issue he has many opportunities to think about as chairman of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board.

Water safety is not a problem at most sailing clubs, he says, nor in adventure sports, whose enthusiasts wear life jackets or other "personal flotation devices" voluntarily. "These activities - sailing, canoeing - have very high standards here," says O'Donnell, a Galway-based barrister. "Unfortunately, it's not quite the same in other activities. Education is obviously the better route towards greater compliance, but there comes a time when issues like this have to be confronted."

O'Donnell is reluctant to be specific about backing a life-jacket law, saying any final decision is a matter for Dermot Ahern, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. But the spate of deaths in angling incidents, both offshore and inland, suggests there isn't quite the same approach to safety on the water among small-boat users. The discovery that none of the 10 people aboard the Pisces, the angling boat that sank off Fethard-on-Sea, in Co Wexford, last summer, was wearing a life jacket was a turning point for public awareness of safety and personal responsibility.

The accident, on July 28th, happened just several miles offshore. The five survivors were reported to have been clinging to plastic drums when they were rescued from the water. The five who died included three generations of the same family: James Cooney, a well-known New Ross businessman, Seamus Doyle, his 33-year-old son-in-law, and 14-year-old Mark Doyle, Cooney's grandson. Two friends of the family, 44-year-old John Cullen from New Ross and 67-year-old Martin Roche, a bus driver from Galbally, near Enniscorthy, also drowned.

The investigation into the sinking was one of the first tasks for the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, which had been established only a month earlier. It is expected to publish its final report on the Pisces shortly. The board's task is not to apportion blame but to recommend how such accidents can be avoided.

Ahern has already introduced new safety regulations for passenger vessels. And the Maritime Safety Directorate, another body established last year under the department's aegis, has been involved in deciding whether to make it compulsory for everybody to wear life jackets at sea. Fishermen already have to wear them while working on deck; anybody under 16 also has to wear some form of personal flotation device aboard an open mechanically propelled pleasure craft once it has cast off.

O'Donnell, who has worked as a barrister on the western circuit for 20 years, has inland roots, being a native of Gort, in Co Galway. He has more than a passing interest in things maritime, however. He has been involved in sailing and owns a rigid inflatable boat in Roundstone, in Connemara. He is also a keen walker; he trekked to Everest base camp in Nepal several months ago, during the early stages of Pat Falvey's successful Irish expedition last week. Fellow board member Tom Power, a yachtsman, is involved in managing Dún Laoghaire marina; their colleague Brian Hogan is chief surveyor.

The Pisces investigation is only one of a plethora of inquiries. The board is looking into six cases from last year and 13 from this year, and it inherited a further 40 from the department's maritime safety division. This creates considerable pressure, as O'Donnell and his colleagues must try to publish their reports within nine months of the accidents.

Among its investigations are those into the passenger vessel that hit a bridge at New Ross last July, the death of a lone fisherman off Kenmare, Co Kerry, also in July of last year, and the collision of Bara Segal, a commercial sea-fishing vessel, and Sea Hope, a bulk carrier, in August. Other cases include the injury of two people in an explosion aboard a cabin cruiser, the Santa Christina, in September, the death of Michael Noel McGuinness, a crew member aboard the supertrawler Atlantic Dawn, in October, and the death of a man during the berthing of Merchant Bravery, a roll-on roll-off ferry, in January.

Two deaths aboard Princess Eva, an Argentinian tanker, off the west coast in January are also being examined, as is the alert over the Stena Europe passenger ferry, which lost all engine power in the south Irish Sea on January 30th. Fortunately, power was restored before passengers had to be airlifted off.

The board has spent many weekends over the past few months discussing its investigations and prioritising the cases before it. The first draft of the Pisces report was sent to relatives of the bereaved last year; a second draft, including their comments, has now been finalised. The board took the unusual step of telling the media to publish no part of the draft, lest they commit an offence under the Merchant Shipping Act.

O'Donnell believes the volume of work may justify the appointment of the board's own marine surveyors, as is the case in Britain. "Because we are drawing on the expertise of surveyors who work for the department's Maritime Safety Directorate, we are intrinsically linked to the department. In fact, we need to maintain our independence, as established under the terms of the merchant-shipping legislation." He also believes the law has to be enforced more rigorously - prosecuting for faulty boat standards, for example. This could prove more difficult if local Garda stations are closed down. As it is, critics of the idea of mandatory life jackets say gardaí lack the resources to enforce the measure.

The board's remit also extends inland, in that it must investigate any accident involving the use of a boat on Ireland's territorial waters, lakes and seas. As Irish Water Safety has also pointed out this week, many accidents on water occur inland, although not all of them involve vessels.

Irish Water Safety has analysed every inland drowning between 1998 and 2002. It found that 53 per cent occurred in rivers, 22 per cent in lakes, 12 per cent in canals, 11 per cent in ponds and 2 per cent in quarries. The association, which is based in Galway, has tirelessly run safety-awareness campaigns. It says it is encouraged that there were 24 fewer accidental drownings last year than in 2001.

Tomorrow in Dublin, Dermot Ahern is expected to don a wetsuit - which he is used to as a keen windsurfer - to highlight National Water Safety Awareness Week. It will come just days before the bank-holiday weekend, when we traditionally flock to the coast - and to water anywhere - if the weather tempts.

Irish Water Safety has an extensive summer programme of water-safety courses at rivers, lakes and beaches throughout Ireland. You can get more details by calling 1890-420202 or by visiting its website, www.iws.ie Do not allow children near water unsupervised.

Ensure other members of the family can swim and are confident enough in the water to save themselves if they fall in.

Make sure everyone in the family wears life jackets for aquatic activities.

Make sure all the family wears suitable protective clothing: the commonest cause of drowning is incapacitation caused by the cold.