Lusitania fight cost taxpayers €344,000

THE Government’s reluctance to grant the owner of the Lusitania a licence to explore the wreck cost the taxpayer at least €340,000.

American Greg Bemis had applied for a licence from the Government in 2001 but was refused.

He subsequently fought a lengthy legal battle, seeking a judicial review and winning his case in the High Court in 2005, only to see the state appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

The latter dismissed the state’s appeal in March 2007, and costs were awarded to Mr Bemis.

A settlement was agreed with Mr Bemis and Environment Minister John Gormley confirmed the state paid the money owed to him last December.

“Costs of the judicial review and Supreme Court challenge were awarded to the licence applicant. A settlement of €343,940 (High Court €248,248; Supreme Court €95,691) was subsequently agreed, and paid over to the applicant in December 2008,” Mr Gormley said. The figure does not include the state’s own legal costs.

The minister was replying to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael TD Jim O’Keeffe.

The Lusitania was sunk by a German torpedo off the Cork coast in 1915, claiming the lives of 1,195 passengers and crew. The wreck is located several miles off the Old Head of Kinsale in Co Cork.

The Government had not wanted to issue a licence because of concerns that an exploration of the wreck could damage it.

It had issued an underwater heritage order in 1995 which declared the site where the wreck lay a “restricted area” because of its historical importance.

After losing its Supreme Court appeal in 2007 however, the Government subsequently issued Mr Bemis a five-year licence.

“Many people are torn emotionally between the desire for closure and the desire to not disturb the ship but in this case, the wreck is more than 90 years old and any dives so far have not found human remains, so I think the possibility of closure wins out,” Mr Bemis said following the Supreme Court decision.

Last October, divers exploring the wreck on Mr Bemis’ behalf recovered thousands of what appeared to be bullets of the kind used by troops in the war.

Speculation at the time that the Lusitania was carrying munitions to Britain was rife but the British government has always denied this.