A licensing system to reduce safety risks in the use of pleasure craft may be considered by a Government review group which has been set up in the wake of the Co Louth boating accident.
The largely unregulated use of yachts, angling boats and other leisure craft will be examined by the group, which was originally established to consider restrictions on the use of fast water craft such as jet-skis and speedboats. The Minister received Government approval yesterday for the initiative after the latest in a series of boating accidents - this time off the Co Louth coast. Earlier this summer, a Connemara man died when the ballast shifted in a hooker he was sailing off Gorumna Island, Co Galway. In May, two Cork brothers drowned when their speedboat overturned in Ballycotton Bay.
Pleasure craft now account for 45 per cent of all call-outs by RNLI volunteer lifeboat crews. The growth of marine leisure activities has put great pressure on the Irish Marine Emergency Service . The four Air Corps helicopter crew who died in July had been returning from a successful IMES rescue mission involving a 15-foot pleasure boat caught in fog with three adults and a child on board.
The group will include members of the National Safety Council, the Marine Institute, the Irish Sailing Association, IMES and other related marine representative bodies. The ISA, which has its own safety code, has said that compulsory use of lifejackets is unworkable, given the lack of resources to police such a measure.
The Minister has already accepted a recommendation to set up a statutory regulatory body for adventure centres, with the support of the Association for Adventure Sports.
The ISA is seeking clarification from the European Commission on an EU directive which is designed to harmonise construction standards on small craft.
The EU recreational craft directive was passed as a free trade measure, but the classification has a strong safety dimension. All craft must carry a metal plate on the hull, which gives details of the design category, maximum recommended load and maximum rated engine power. Boats will be assessed according to the area of intended use - from A for ocean to D for sheltered waters. Boats intended for use on estuaries, lakes and larger rivers fall in to design category C.
Any boat placed on the market after June 16th, 1998, must carry the plate. However, the ISA says that some manufacturers are not aware of the directive, which has been transposed into Irish law.
There may also be insurance implications for the classification system, according to the organisation.
The Minister has also accepted a recommendation to set up a statutory regulatory body for adventure centres, with the support of the Association for Adventure Sports.
