Jet-ski and powerboat users may have to pass a 'driving test' before taking to the water in future, writes Joe Humphreys.
A new water safety agency with powers to control the use of pleasure craft, such as jet-skis and powerboats, is scheduled to be established towards the end of 2004.
Proposals are being drafted by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Ahern, with a view to achieving Cabinet approval in the next Dáil term.
The new agency will amalgamate the Coast Guard service and the Maritime Safety Directorate, which was established just 18 months ago amid heightened concern about maritime fatalities.
Mr Maurice Mullen, head of the directorate, said the new body would have a wider safety remit, incorporating stronger educational and enforcement programmes.
"This is a response to the changing safety agenda, driven by the fact that more people are involved in the leisure boating sector," he said.
"Safety legislation to date has been mainly concerned with larger vessels, particularly on the passenger fare-paying side."
One of the main aims of the proposed agency is to draw together the disparate regulations controlling the use of pleasure craft.
At present, there is no uniform control over jet-ski use, apart from a July 2001 regulation which states that users must be aged 16 or over, be wearing a life-jacket and not to be under the influence of alcohol.
Additional controls are provided in some areas where local authorities have passed by-laws banning the use of jet-skis.
Most such by-laws prohibit jet-ski use near beaches where there is a danger of collision with swimmers. Further by-laws prohibit skiing on certain lakes where such activity threatens to disrupt fishing.
Such regulations, however, are far from universal, with Youghal Town Council, the area in which this week's tragedy took place, one of many local authorities yet to enact a by-law controlling jet-ski use.
As for enforcement, the fact that only one case has come before the courts to date tells its own story.
Last March a jet-skier who drove too close to a beach on the Aran Islands in breach of Galway County Council's by-laws was fined €350 after a lifeguard, a swimming instructor and a garda gave evidence against him.
No one has been convicted to date of breaches of the July 2001 regulations which are punishable by a fine of €1,904 and/or 12 months' imprisonment under the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) Act, 2000.
Under both sets of law, the Garda has primary responsibility for enforcement.
However, said Mr Mullen, the directorate has been liaising more closely with gardaí on the issue, and recently a number of its "surveyors" carried out lifejacket spot-checks on passenger boats.
The proposed new agency stems from a review of water safety legislation prompted by last year's Pisces boating tragedy near Fethard-on-Sea, Co Wexford, in which five people died.
Earlier this month Mr Ahern announced plans to strengthen legislation governing the use of lifejackets whereby every small pleasure craft must carry such buoyancy aids for each passenger, and every small open craft must have all passengers wearing them.
The Minister hopes to have the regulations in place by early next year, in time for the new boating season.
Jet-skis: the how and the how-much
A jet-ski can cost anything from €7,000 to 16,000
The most basic models offered by Kawasaki (which invented the craft in 1973) and Yamaha fall into the 73-75 h.p. range, the equivalent in motorcycle terms to a sports bike of 750 cc, well above the 125 cc limit for which motorcyclists have to carry a driving licence.
Known as personal watercraft (PWC), jet-skis can reach speeds of at least 50 m.p.h.
Users are expected to wear lifejackets and wet-suits but not helmets.