Education on sea safety may be best way to avoid deaths

Since last year, there are signs of greater awareness of the value of life jackets, writes Lorna Siggins

When relatives of the five people who died in the Pisces sinking off Co Wexford last year were invited to comment on the official investigation, several of them called for prosecution of the skipper/owner. Several also said the 26ft boat should never be allowed back on the water.

One, Ms Mary Ellen Roche, of Ballyhogue, Enniscorthy, called for the boat to be disposed of by public incineration.

At yesterday's press conference hosted by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) in Dublin, the MCIB chairman, Mr John O'Donnell, said he could understand this reaction.

However, the boat belonged to Mr Paddy Barden, he said, and it would be returned to him. The vessel was currently in the possession of the Garda, he said.

The Garda investigation has been completed, and a file is with the Director of Public Prosecutions, who has as yet to decide on prosecution. The MCIB's conclusions are pretty straightforward, and make for "grim reading", as a relative commented.

The boat was unseaworthy, unsafe and unstable, due in no small part to modifications carried out on it. It had no passenger boat licence, and wouldn't have got one if it had applied.

The MCIB report says it would be unfair to identify the person who modified the vessel between 1991 and 1993, as he or she would not have known that the vessel, formerly used for fishing, would be used to carry passengers. However, it has established that the vessel was surveyed for a fishing licence application on behalf of the previous owner on April 19th, 1999. This survey found the vessel to be "safe and seaworthy".

The MCIB makes no specific comment on this survey - also carried out before the boat was used for passenger transport.

However, it does recommend that the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources should ensure that a marine notice is issued, warning of the dangers associated with modifying vessels without proper evaluation of the consequences.

Most of the recommendations have already been acted upon, or are in train, according to the Minister for the Marine's appendix to the document. Earlier this week, the Minister, Mr Dermot Ahern, highlighted several new aspects of passenger boat safety legislation which were implemented last January, and warned of "spot checks" on passenger boats throughout the summer.

The Minister has also initiated consultation, through the Maritime Safety Directorate, on compulsory use of life jackets, and has signalled that he will extend the ruling to children in categories other than those already existing.

Several bodies involved in the marine sector, including Irish Water Safety, contend that education is the key to ensuring greater awareness of safety.

Irish Water Safety points to a recent study on drowning by the World Health Organisation, which indicates that countries that promote education and awareness campaigns achieve more than countries that have tried legislation. One obvious flaw with legislation is the lack of resources to implement it.

The Maritime Safety Directorate has been given extra marine surveying staff. However, in most situations, enforcement of the law will apply to the Garda - unless additional powers are given to the Naval Service to transform it into a coastguard on the model existing in the US.

The MCIB yesterday highlighted the "lacuna" existing between the marine authorities and the Garda on enforcement - a lacuna which may be difficult to address where police resources are already stretched.

Since the Fethard-on-Sea accident, there are signs around the coast of much greater awareness of the value of life jackets. At a recent regatta in Spiddal, Co Galway, for example, all those racing in currachs were wearing inflatable jackets.

As for the owner of the Pisces, who survived miraculously when trapped in the wheelhouse, his letter to the MCIB on the report indicates he is living with his own nightmare.

"I can recall throughout my lifetime our extended families' empathy with all affected by sea-related tragedies," says Mr Barden. He offers his and his family's sympathy to all the bereaved families.