A skipper has appeared in court charged with the manslaughter of five people who died after his boat sank off the Wexford coast.
Patrick Barden (66) face the charges after his trawler, the Pisces, sank almost a mile from Fethard-on-Sea harbour with ten people on board on July 28th, 2002.
Mr Barden entered pleas of not guilty at Wexford Circuit Criminal Court to the manslaughter of Martin Roche, John Cullen, Seamus Doyle, Mark Doyle and James Cooney.
He was also charged with reckless conduct creating a substantial risk of death or serious harm to others by putting to sea in a vessel which was unseaworthy, overloaded, unstable and insufficiently equipped with life-saving equipment.
Two other counts charged him as being the master, and separately the owner, of a dangerously unsafe ship, contrary to Section 4 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1981.
The charges said the Pisceswas unfit because of the condition of the vessel's hull, equipment or machinery or because it was overloaded.
Mr Barden also pleaded not guilty to these charges. The case was adjourned and Mr Braden was remanded on bail until next week.