Tougher penalties for unsafe boats

MASTERS of unsafe boats will face two years in prison, Junior Marine Minister Pat The Cope Gallagher said yesterday.

New legislation coming into force from next April provides for maximum fines of €250,000 as well as two years in prison.

Mr Gallagher was responding to public dismay that a €1,000 fine was the single penalty that could be imposed on Patrick Barden, the skipper of The Pisces which sank with the loss of five lives off Wexford in July 2002.

Patrick Doyle, the father and grandfather of two of the victims, said the penalty was not enough.

“Think of five decent, innocent people gone, my son and grandson amongst them, and three other friends. They fine him €1,000 - to me it doesn’t make sense,” he said.

A jury found Mr Barden, of Ralph, Fethard-on-Sea, guilty of being the master and owner of a dangerously unsafe ship, contrary to the 1981 Merchant Shipping Act. The jury of seven men and five women found Mr Barden not guilty on all five manslaughter charges and on a charge of endangerment, contrary to the 1997 Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.

Fine Gael TD Paul Kehoe, who recalled being on the quayside that fateful day, said: “I think the people of Wexford would be shocked by the leniency of the fine.”

Mr Gallagher said on RTÉ Radio he had made it a priority to put safety at sea at the top of his agenda.

Under the 2005 Merchant Shipping Act, he said, all passenger boats must be licensed, while lifejackets are being made compulsory for under-16s on boats under seven metres long. All skippers must also be qualified to operate passenger vessels from April 1 next.

He said the Marine Casualty Investigations Board had made 20 recommendations, nearly all of which he had implemented.

Mr Gallagher said he was working on setting up a small vessel registration system in the context of an overall vessel registration proposal.

“I am also having a full review of the insurance provisions, which has been recommended to me,” he said.