The Department of the Marine has defended the findings of its investigation into a collision between Irish and French fishing vessels in 1992 which claimed two lives.
The report, published at the weekend, found both vessels at fault, although a French court had identified the French vessel as being in the wrong. Mr Gerard Doran, father of one of the two Irish fishermen who died, has dismissed the Department's report as "pathetic" and "a whitewash".
He has demanded to know why the investigator did not examine the wreckage of the Irish vessel after the incident, and why the Irish authorities did not insist on a role in the French investigation.
The 56ft wooden-hulled Orchidee was struck by the French-registered Agena in September 1992. Two of the three crew members of the Orchidee - the skipper, James Power of Dunmore East, Co Waterford, and Robert Doran of Bridgetown, Co Wexford - died in the incident.
Two French crewmen on the 90ft steel-hulled Agena were found guilty of negligence in a French court two years ago and received suspended prison sentences of one year and three months respectively.
The Department of the Marine report says that neither vessel complied with international regulations on prevention of collisions at sea. A spokesman said it was not the purpose of the report to apportion blame, and there was "sincere regret" at the delay in publishing the findings, seven years after the collisionee (italics) and the French-registered Agena (italics )occurred off the Welsh coast. This delay had caused further distress to the families. "We will make sure that such a delay never happens again," the spokesman said.
Mr Gerard Doran, who fished for 40 years himself, told The Irish Times that he had not made any official comment in the report itself as he was disgusted with it. The Department of the Marine had "not had the moral courage to address the discrepancies between the Irish and French testimonies", Mr Doran said.
He claimed that the Department's investigator, who resigned before the report was complete, had not examined the wreckage of the Orchidee when it was returned to Dunmore East. Had the surveyor seen the vessel, he would have known that it had been hit on the port side and not almost head-on, as referred to in the report.
Also, the French vessel was under full power while the Irish ship was lying to or simply ticking over. Under navigational rules, therefore, the French vessel was "90 per cent in the wrong", he said.
Mr Doran said the Irish officials had had no input into the French inquiry, and the French skipper, who was ultimately responsible for his vessel, was let off without a reprimand.
Mrs Tracey Power, widow of the Orchidee's skipper, did make an official comment in the report, in which she said that the French crewman on watch in the Agena was not experienced enough to take the boat out of automatic pilot.
Had he known how, this would have prevented the collision, she said.
