The Government should extend its current marine safety review to inland waterways, the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland (IWAI) has said.
The risk of collision and serious accident on such waterways is just as great as at sea, Mr Colin Becker, president of the IWAI, said yesterday. He has called for a further extension of the remit of the task force initiated by the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Dr Woods, already reconstituted in the wake of last weekend's accident which claimed four lives off Co Louth.
The task force was originally set up last month to examine possible regulation of jet-skis, speedboats and other fast water craft. After last weekend's events, its remit was extended to cover safety generally in the largely unregulated marine leisure area.
Mr Becker welcomed the Minister's move but said that the inland waterways were now home to a large fleet of vessels, ranging from open angling boats and dinghies to jet-skis, speedboats, sailing and motor cruisers, barges and pleasure trip boats. The wake left by a very large cruiser could capsize dinghies and cause even larger boats to pitch and toss, and there were reports of damage done to 50-ton barges tied alongside jetties.
While some of the problems were common to both sea and inland waterways, the inland locations attracted a very high proportion of novice users, he said.
The IWAI has already set up a training scheme with the Irish Sailing Association, but feels more action should be taken. Duchas, the heritage and waterways service, was limited in resources and was unable to enforce many of its own regulations, he said.
Earlier this year the Minister acted on a National Safety Council recommendation to extend the remit of the Irish Marine Emergency Service (IMES) inland due to the increase in leisure activity on waterways. Almost 900 vessels are available for hire or used for passenger trips on the Shannon system alone.
