Sailing: Courses in British radio operators' certification offered by Irish sailing schools are under the spotlight of a Department of the Marine (DOM) review - the results of which are to be published next week - over difficulties concerning the quality of a Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA)/Royal Yachting Association (RYA) certificate.
Up to an estimated 1,500 certificates have been issued by Irish schools according to the Irish Sailing Association, which says there are too many barriers to radio safety education for pleasure-craft users.
Applications from RYA certificate holders for ship station radio licences are being held by the Department of the Marine's Maritime Radio Affairs Unit (MRAU) pending the outcome of the review which may render the RYA certificates unacceptable in Ireland.
A ship's radio licence requires sailors to hold a certificate to operate a VHF radio.
Eamonn Rossiter of the Radio Affairs Unit says that the Irish courses are to a harmonised standard within Europe and that up to a 1,000 Irish certificates are issued annually.
The schools concerned say they switched to the RYA scheme because of difficulties they had in getting the (DOM) to carry out examinations.
"The ISA has consistently raised this issue with the DOM and the Coastguard over the past five years. Barriers to sailors getting radio safety education are always being put in our way. This means sailing schools have been forced to other jurisdictions," an ISA spokesman said.
All pleasure craft are encouraged to carry radios for communication, especially for use in the event of an emergency, though it is widely acknowledged that many boat owners remain unlicensed which, say safety experts, is a serious hole in the safety net.
"This move will further discourage sailors from getting radio licences, it will instead encourage the unreliable use of mobile phones at sea with a resultant impact on the safety of small vessels at sea." said the ISA spokesman.
Both the licence and operator's certificate are the responsibility of the Communications regulator but the Maritime Radio Affairs Unit (MRAU) conducts examinations on its behalf.
The UK certificate has proved attractive with commercial sailing schools because the courses are shorter and cheaper than Irish courses, referred to by some Irish sailing school principals as "overly complicated, inaccessible and expensive".
