TD calls for trawlers to be raised

A SENIOR Fianna Fáil TD has called for the two vessels which sank, claiming seven lives, to be raised.

However, despite Denis O’Donovan’s call, the Minister of State with responsibility for Marine Safety has refused to give any undertaking on that.

Mr O’Donovan said it had been a tragic time for all the coastal community.

“I am strongly of the view and I will be telling the minister responsible in this area, Pat ‘the Cope’ Gallagher, that both vessels should be lifted when weather permits, obviously subject to the search and rescue to try to recover the bodies of those missing.

“No stone must be left uncovered to ensure both vessels are lifted. If I have to I will go to the other cabinet ministers and the Taoiseach on this because it is one of the most horrific tragedies to have hit any coastal community in my lifetime.”

However, Mr Gallagher gave no commitment.

“This is much too early. Our priority is to find the bodies,” he said adding the responsibility for deciding whether there would be a lift lay with the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, who are a statutory body independent of either the Department of Transport or the Department of the Marine.

Mr O’Donovan also questioned the length of time which passed before the Honeydew II difficulties came to light.

“I am concerned about why it took so long to find out it had gone.

“The fact that the vessels sank within 20 miles of each other on the same night within a number of hours raises serious concerns.”

The delay in discovering the Honeydew II’s plight was also raised by Mary Bohan, wife of the skipper of the Honeydew II, when the two politicians met her.

Ms Bohan initially raised the alert that her husband was missing and yesterday she wanted to know why the navy’s monitoring system — which should have picked up the lack of beacon signals — failed to do so. Alan Coleman, a local councillor present at the meeting at the Bohan home said: “Mary is a strong person. She knows she is not going to get answers immediately but she will make sure the questions are not going to go away.”

He said the politicians tried to give her assurances that all was being done to find her husband and also find what had lead to the deaths of the seven fishermen.