Rules must be obeyed

The comprehensive review of safety measures for small watercraft announced yesterday by the Minister for the Marine, Dermot Ahern, is long overdue.

The problem in this country is that even the inadequate regulations that do exist are not rigorously enforced, and that results in lifeboats being called out on average 75 times a month, as happened last year.

Minister Ahern compared peoples’ attitude to safety measures at sea with the culture that existed originally towards the wearing of seat belts and drink driving.