Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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The purpose of today's meeting is to consider the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Accidents) Bill 2024. I thank the Department for the briefing note it has provided to us. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy James Lawless, and his officials to the meeting.

Witnesses are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable, or otherwise engage in speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good name of the person or entity. Therefore, if witnesses' statements are potentially defamatory with regard to an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks, and it is imperative that they comply with any such direction.

Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official, either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable. For anyone watching this meeting, Oireachtas Members and witnesses now have the option of being physically present in the committee room or to join the meeting remotely via Microsoft Teams. I remind members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the Leinster House complex to participate at this public meeting. I will not permit a member to contribute from outside the confines of Leinster House. Should a vote be called, members must physically come to the committee room to vote. If they are not in attendance, the bells will ring for the full period.

We will now proceed to our consideration of the Bill. I call on the Minister of State to make his opening statement.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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It is a pleasure to be before the committee for my first and probably for my last time in the term of this Dáil. It is good to join the members. I nearly went to the wrong side of the committee room out of force of habit.

I will give a brief opening statement on the Bill. It passed through Second Stage quite recently. I appreciate the committee's accommodation in taking Committee Stage today and I hope we will be able to move to Report Stage in the very near future because it is important.

One of the main objectives of this Bill is to provide for the establishment of a marine accident investigation unit, MAIU, within the Department of Transport. It provides for a transition from the current structure, where the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, MCIB, is the designated investigative body, to the establishment of a full-time permanent MAIU within the Department of Transport, similar to the Air Accident Investigation Unit and the Railway Accident Investigation Unit.

We have also taken the opportunity through this Bill to provide for a regulatory regime to be put in place for the construction and operation of offshore service vessels, which will operate in Ireland to support the offshore renewable energy sector and provide for the carriage of industrial personnel. This will provide a robust system to ensure the vessels are safe to operate and provide protection to their crews and the industrial personnel being carried. This regulatory regime has resulted in the need for some consequential amendments to our existing primary legislation, which I have also included in the Bill, to ensure it is consistent with the regime we now wish to put in place. Therefore, the Bill has two purposes, one being to create the new MAIU and the other being to provide for the regulatory regime for the offshore service vessels industry, which will only grow in the years to come.

I am also taking the opportunity to update the references to two conventions - the International Maritime Organization’s International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, usually referred to as SOLAS, and the International Labour Organization’s Maritime Labour Convention - in existing legislation to enable more recent amendments to these conventions to be addressed in national secondary legislation. I am taking the opportunity to update the references to international treaty obligations while updating the merchant shipping Acts.

Pre-legislative scrutiny was carried out by the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications last year and the report was published on 2 May 2023. I thank the committee members for their work on it. I am pleased to say we have taken on board several recommendations. They strengthen the Bill, so the work of the committee was very productive and of assistance to my Department.

I propose several amendments, which I am happy to discuss with members as required. I propose amendments on the processing of personal data under the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. Another amendment I propose relates to ensuring the MAIU’s accident investigation reports are prohibited from being used in criminal proceedings. This will ensure witnesses and those involved in marine accidents can provide information without the fear of its being used in litigation. It is not the purpose of a marine safety investigation of the MAIU to apportion blame or liability, so the amendment is important in this regard. A common principle in natural justice is that the nature of an inquiry is such that blame and sanction are not apportioned. The aim is to get to the truth of what occurred. That is an important principle to uphold in the legislation.

I also propose some consequential amendments, which will ensure we have the necessary survey powers in place to survey the safety equipment that will be placed on board offshore service vessels. These consequential amendments make changes to several pieces of existing primary legislation that provide for the requirement to carry safety equipment on board Irish ships and for the inspection of that equipment. These are minor amendments to existing primary provisions but they have a real-world impact. The survey of safety equipment is vital to ensure that a ship has on board all of the appropriate safety equipment for its safe navigation and to manage emergencies. The survey will ensure the equipment is maintained in an appropriate manner and replaced when coming to the end of its life. It may well save lives.

In addition to the main amendments I have just outlined, I propose two small technical amendments. I will refer to them when dealing with them but I just want to ensure the committee that they are very technical in nature.

I take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the work to date of the MCIB, its board and investigators. The move towards a full-time, permanent maritime investigation resource will build on the important contribution that the MCIB has made and that we seek to grow in this Bill. I thank the Chair and committee members for facilitating this meeting today. I look forward to discussing the Bill in detail.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. It was remiss of me not to note this is his first appearance before the committee. My hearty congratulations to him on his recent appointment. I had not realised he had not appeared here before as a Minister of State because, like him, I am relatively new in my role, as I know he is aware.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 are related and may be discussed together.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 1:

In page 16, line 17, before “the” where it firstly occurs to insert "subject to suitable and specific measures to protect the data,".

The amendments relate to sections 18 and 26. Their purpose is to safeguard the protection of data in line with the EU General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR, with which we are all familiar at this stage, and the Data Protection Act 2018, which put the regulation into Irish law. The amendments would ensure that, during the course of a marine safety investigation where a person is required to preserve evidence and requested to provide records or other information to an investigator, they would do so in a way compatible with and in compliance with the necessary data protection legislation. The amendments are technical but important.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 2:

In page 20, line 5, after “may” to insert “, subject to suitable and specific measures to protect the data”.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 3:

In page 24, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following: “(7) A report of a marine safety investigation shall not be admissible as evidence in criminal proceedings.".

The amendment is proposed in order to ensure that the accident and investigation reports of the MAIU are prohibited from use in criminal proceedings. It is a strict requirement of the EU directive that investigations of the MAIU must be independent of criminal investigations, which may seek to determine liability or apportion blame. This amendment makes that distinction clear in regard to the use of evidence. The amendment will also reduce the risk of a chilling effect by ensuring that witnesses and those involved in marine accidents can provide information without the fear that this information will be later used in litigation.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 4:

In page 28, between lines 35 and 36, to insert the following:“ “cargo ship” means any ship in relation to which a cargo ship safety construction certificate is in force;”.

The purpose of this amendment is to fine-tune the definition of the term "cargo ship", which potentially could be open to different interpretations. This amendment provides for the definitions associated with Part 5 of the Bill on the regulation of offshore vessels. This is to provide clarity and consistency across the text of the legislation and the other legislation. This provides clarity as to what constitutes a cargo ship and links it to the appropriate certificate for such a ship. That may form the base certificate for an offshore service vessel in future.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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Amendments Nos. 5 and 6 are related and may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 5:

In page 33, line 13, to delete “officer” and substitute “person”.

These are technical amendments. The reference to “authorised officer” is being updated to “authorised person” in line with the terminology used in the remainder of the section and the Part.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 6:

In page 33, line 15, to delete “officer” and substitute “person”.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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Amendments Nos. 7 and 8 and 11 to 13, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together. Is that agreed? Agreed.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 7:

In page 38, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following: (1) The Merchant Shipping Act 1894 is amended—

(a) by the substitution of the following section for section 418:

“418. (1) The Minister for Transport may make regulations for the prevention of collisions at sea.

(2) Regulations under this section may prescribe—

(a) the conduct of vessels—

(i) in any condition of visibility,

(ii) in restricted visibility,

(iii) in sight of one another, and

(iv) restricted in their ability to manoeuvre,

(b) requirements for maintaining a safe look-out and safe speed,

(c) actions to be taken to avoid collisions,

(d) responsibilities between vessels,

(e) requirements for lights and shapes, visibility of lights, towing and pushing, sound and light signals, equipment for sound signals, manoeuvring and warning signals,

(f) requirements for the survey of vessels for compliance with regulations made under this section,

(g) such requirements as the Minister considers necessary to give effect to the provisions of the international collision regulations, and

(h) such requirements for the inspection of vessels as the Minister considers necessary to ensure continued compliance with regulations made under this section.

(3) Regulations made under this section shall apply to Irish ships and to any other ship while it is within any port in the State unless it would not have been in any such port but for stress of weather or any other circumstances that neither the master nor the owner of the ship could have prevented or forestalled.

(4) Regulations made under this section may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations.

(5) In this section—‘international collision regulations’ means the International Maritime Organization’s Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972 and any amendments made to it up to and including those adopted by the 28th Session of the Assembly of the International Maritime Organization on 4 December 2013 through Resolution A.1085(28);

‘Irish ship’ means a ship, other than a ship of war, known as such under section 9 of the Mercantile Marine Act 1955.”,

and

(b) by the substitution of the following section for section 420:

“420. (1) A surveyor of ships may—

(a) survey any ship for compliance with regulations made under section 418,

(b) inspect any ship for the purpose of ensuring that the ship is properly provided with lights and means of making fog signals in conformity with regulations made under section 418 and, if the surveyor finds that the ship is not so provided, he or she shall give to the master or owner notice in writing indicating the deficiencies and what is required to rectify them,

(c) board and inspect any ship for the purposes of ensuring that a deficiency is remedied in accordance with a notice under paragraph(b), and

(d) for the purposes of a survey under paragraph (a) or inspection under paragraph (b) or (c), carry out such tests (either on the ship, ashore or at dock), ask such questions, inspect such documents and records and have access to such systems or equipment as he or she considers appropriate for that purpose.

(2) Where a ship, in respect of which a notice has been given to its owner or master under subsection (1)(b), proceeds or attempts to proceed to sea before the deficiencies specified in the notice, which deficiencies are required to be remedied before proceeding to sea, have been addressed, then the person to whom the notice is addressed commits an offence and is liable—

(a) on summary conviction to a class A fine, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €100,000.

(3) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, prescribe fees for any surveys, inspections or tests referred to in subsection (1) and different amounts may be prescribed in respect of different classes of surveys, inspections or tests.”.”.

These amendments are related. The proposed amendments form part of the consequential amendments provision of the Bill that I mentioned in my opening remarks. What is proposed throughout these amendments is to provide for survey powers for safety equipment on board vessels.

The amendments I have put forward here make changes to sections 418 and 420 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894, which relates to the collision regulations; sections 18 and 36 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1952, which relate to navigation equipment and signals of distress, respectively; section 34 of the Maritime Safety Act 2005, in relation to nautical charts and publications; and sections 82 and 84 of the Merchant Shipping Act 2010, which relate to lifesaving appliances and fire protection rules. All of these matters, taken collectively, make up the safety equipment on board vessels. These amendments simply give the power to the Marine Survey Office to survey ships to ensure that equipment is in line with the requirements for the relevant rules and regulations in each case.

In the context of Part 5 of the rules, this will allow for the safety equipment on board offshore survey vessels to be surveyed appropriately also. It is a common-sense amendment bringing clarity to the variety of sources of legislation and applying a common approach to all.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 8:

In page 38, between lines 36 and 37, to insert the following: “(b) in section 18—

(i) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1)The Minister may make rules (‘navigation and tracking rules’) prescribing requirements for—

(a) navigation and tracking systems and equipment including the position, method of fitting and maintenance of such systems and equipment,

(b) the survey of navigation and tracking systems and equipment for compliance with rules made under this section, including the extent, manner and intervals of such surveys, and

(c) the inspection of navigation and tracking systems and equipment to ensure continued compliance with rules made under this section.”,

(ii) in subsection (8), by the substitution of “board, survey and inspect” for “board and inspect”,

(iii) in subsection (9), by the substitution of “carrying out a survey or inspection” for “making an inspection”,

(iv) in subsection (10), by the substitution of “board, survey and inspect” for “board and inspect”, and

(v) in subsection (11), by the substitution of “a survey or inspection” for “an inspection”,”.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 9:

In page 39, line 12, to delete “and”.

Amendments Nos. 9 and 10 are technical amendments. They are intended to tidy up a couple of words and typos and to delete the word “and”, stating the nature of the Bill.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 10:

In page 39, line 26, to delete “Convention”.” and substitute “Convention”, and”.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 11:

In page 39, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following: “(d) in section 36, by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) The Minister may make rules prescribing requirements for—

(a) what signals shall be used by ships as signals of distress and the circumstances in which, and the purposes for which, any such signal is to be used and the circumstances in which it is to be revoked,

(b) the survey of vessels for compliance with rules made under this section, including the extent, manner and intervals of such surveys, and

(c) the inspection of vessels for compliance with rules made under this section.”.”.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 12:

In page 43, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following: “(3) The Maritime Safety Act 2005 is amended—

(a) in section 34, by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) The Minister may make regulations—(a)specifying such charts, nautical directions or information or other nautical publications as appear to him or her to be necessary or expedient for the safe operation of vessels and such regulations may require—

(i) Irish ships, or such class or description of such ships as is specified in the regulations, to carry either at all times or on such voyages as is so specified,

(ii) vessels which are not Irish ships, or such class or description of such vessels as is so specified, to carry at any time while they are in Irish waters or such of those waters as is so specified, either a copy of all, or a copy of such as are so specified, of the charts, nautical directions or information or other nautical publications so specified,

(b) prescribing requirements for the survey of vessels for compliance with regulations made under this section, including the extent, manner and intervals of such surveys, and

(c) prescribing requirements for the inspection of vessels to ensure continued compliance with regulations made under this section.”,

and

(b) in section 40, by the substitution in subsection (1) of “board, survey and inspect” for “board and inspect”.”.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 13:

In page 44, between lines 38 and 39 to insert the following:

“(e) in section 82—

(i) in subsection (2)—

(I) by the substitution of “Rules for life-saving appliances may provide” for “Without prejudice to subsection (1) may provide”,

(II) in paragraph (o), by the substitution of “fire,” for “fire, and”,

(III) in paragraph (p), by the substitution of “fire,” for “fire.”, and

(IV) by the insertion of the following paragraphs after paragraph (p):

“(q)the survey of vessels for compliance with rules for life-saving appliances including the extent, manner and intervals of such surveys, and

(r) the inspection of vessels to ensure continued compliance with rules for life-saving appliances.”, and

(ii) in subsection (9)—

(I) in paragraph (a), by the substitution of “board, survey and inspect” for “board and inspect”, and

(II) in paragraph (d), by the substitution of “a survey or inspection” for “an inspection”,

(f) in section 84—

(i) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) The Minister may make rules (‘fire protection rules’) prescribing requirements for—

(a) fire protection in respect of the hull, superstructure, deck ,equipment and machinery, arrangement, escapes and detection and extinction equipment,

(b) the survey of vessels for compliance with fire protection rules, including the extent, manner and intervals of such surveys, and

(c) the inspection of vessels to ensure continued compliance with fire protection rules.”,

(ii) in subsection (10), by the substitution of “board, survey and inspect” for “board and inspect”, and

(iii) in subsection (12), by the substitution of “a survey or inspection” for “an inspection”,”.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I might make some very brief concluding remarks if that is in order.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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It is.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Chair for his prompt and efficient management of the amendments today. I thank all the Deputies present for their participation also.

This Bill is about enhancing our maritime safety regime, in particular in respect of the marine accident and investigation landscape. It also helps us achieve our commitment towards carbon neutrality and the target we have set to achieve that by 2050, by providing for the necessary regulation-making power to cater for the vessels being used in the offshore service sector and the carriage of industrial personnel on these vessels.

We have heard about the Merchant Shipping Acts, which date back to the 1890s. We have a very modern, forward-looking piece of legislation here, which deals with the offshore service vessel industry and how we support that. I compliment the Department on bringing the Bill together. It is a very strong piece of legislation which makes good use of the time and the platform available to consolidate previous Acts.

As I said at the outset, I am keen to bring the Bill to Report Stage as soon as possible so that progress can be made in these important policy objectives. I hope to do that the week after we return from the recess, but that is subject to the Whips and all the usual constraints. When we get to Report Stage, I intend to amend amendment No. 3 further to clarify that safety investigation records will be inadmissible as evidence in any proceedings, not only in criminal law but also in civil law, so that a chilling effect does not apply to someone participating in an inquiry.

I thank the committee and the Chair and his team for having us here today. I thank members for their consideration of the Bill.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Chair and the Minister of State and his officials for facilitating this meeting. I offer special praise to the public servants. They do a great job and they help our work during what is a very difficult time. It is good that we are establishing a marine accident investigation unit in the Department of Transport. One amendment brought forward with which I agree relates to the marine accident investigation unit being prohibited from being used in criminal proceedings. That is very logical and sensible. I thank each and every person responsible for bringing this Bill before the select committee.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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I thank everyone for coming in and getting this done. I wish the Minister of State well in his quest to get this Bill passed the week after next. It will be no mean feat if he manages to get there. I thank the officials for their work on the Bill, both in the Department and at the committee.