€800k to help industry improve safety at sea

The Government is to offer grant aid to fishermen to help them buy personal locator and vessel location beacons as part of a wide-ranging safety package aimed at the industry.

The initiative, aimed primarily at fishing vessels under 15ms, was announced in Union Hall, Co Cork yesterday, by Marine Minister Simon Coveney and Transport Minister Leo Varadkar within sight of where five men drowned when their vessel, Tit Bonhomme, struck rocks at the mouth of Glandore Harbour in Jan 2012.

The search for their bodies took almost a month.

The skipper’s widow, Caitlín Uí hAodha, who attended the launch on the pier from where the search and recovery operation was co-ordinated, welcomed the initiative.

“This is a very important day. Unfortunately it has come too late for some people but hopefully it will help some families in to the future,” she said.

“It’s something we looked for when Michael was lost.

“We just felt that the long search could have been shorter or they could have been saved, some of them, if they had personal beacons.

“There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered — this is one of the things that we called for — and I’m just happy that it’s happened today.”

Under the wide-ranging scheme, €800,000 will be made available over the next three years to grant aid the purchase of personal location beacons, which are built into special personal flotation devices.

The beacons are about the size of a mobile phone and can transmit a signal when immersed in water to allow rescue services hone in on its exact location.

Grant aid will be made available to skippers to buy self activating electronic position indicating radio beacons (EPIRBS), which can float free from a capsized or sinking vessel, and transmit an exact GPS location signal to rescuers.

The grant-aid schemes will be operated by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) as part of its training schemes, allowing fishermen to avail of special grants if they complete certain training.

The initiative will also see the introduction of auto pilot alarms, wireless engine cut offs, and a revised and tougher fishing vessel code of practice.

A mew marine notice on use of lifejackets will be drafted and a high-level working group on safety in the fishing industry has been established, chaired by Irish Water Safety chief executive John Leech.

A new national maritime safety and emergency response strategy will be prepared and enhanced safety training courses will be run by BIM on a five year cycle which will see fisherman take an enhanced one day safety training course every five years throughout their career.

The first implementation of the new course will feature instruction on the personal locator beacons, the integrated personal floatation devices with the in built beacons, and auto-pilot alarm systems.

Mr Coveney, who pledged State action after the Tit Bonhomme tragedy, said: “It is about learning from past tragedies, and saving lives in the future.

“I know this issue is painful for those who have lost friends and loved ones at sea, however, I hope that they can gain some comfort from the knowledge that something concrete is now being done.

“The aim is to save lives, we have to see a culture change in our attitudes to safety, and we all have responsibilities in seeing this common held desire become a reality.”

Mr Varadkar, who said the tragic events of Jan 2012 left a huge impact on the nation, said he hoped this new initiative wold forge a culture of “safety first” on the water.

“We can pass any law, but if it is not embraced and enforced, we will continue to lose loved ones at sea in the coming years,” he said.

While International Transport Workers Federation union co-ordinator for Britain and Ireland, Ken Fleming, welcomed the safety initiative, he warned that no initiative would make the slightest bit of difference to the protection of seafarers once they remain outside the legal preamble of the State.

“Fishermen, including those who have lost their lives in Union Hall, were precluded from undergoing any safety initiatives prov-ided by the State to the industry simply on the basis they were illegal workers and not entitled to be here.

“Until this matter is addressed, the ministers’ initiative will make no difference to the unfortunate individual who comes to this country seeking a better life, but then starts working in an environment where they have no legal entitlement to operate given their non-European status.

“Without that legal status, they are stripped of the necessary protection under the law to carry out their duties in a safe way.”