The package contains eight legislative proposals, the objective of which is to strengthen safety at sea and, to support and improve the Community's shipping industry. Among the measures is a Directive on port state control which concerns the inspection of ships entering national ports. Noting that Ireland currently chairs the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on port State control, the Minister said: "We support port state control as a key tool in enhancing maritime safety, security and pollution prevention."
The Minister continued: "We saw recently the importance of EU co-operation, with the role the European Maritime Safety Agency played in spotting the oil slick off the Irish south west coast in February last."
He concluded: "The actions taken to date regarding the oil spill have proved adequate and I acknowledge the national and international cooperation which assisted in dealing with this incident. Ireland is supportive of the various policy initiatives to protect the coastline. We support in particular, the overall aim of the Third Maritime Safety Package. This will formalise existing working arrangements and have a positive impact on maritime safety and pollution prevention."
