The British government tried to claim State immunity when seeking to recover a sonar array from one of its submarines which dragged an Irish fishing vessel backwards in 1989.
As The Irish Independent reports, State Papers reveal that Irish civil servants believed an agreed settlement between the British authorities and the skipper of the MV Contestor was preferable to the incident going to court.
A department memo dated September 13th 1990, which has been released as part of the State Archive, outlined concerns over the potential embarrassment of British legal action being triggered for the recovery of the towed sonar array.
The incident on September 12th 1989, occurred 40km east of Skerries, Co Dublin, when the MV Contestor alerted the Shannon-based Marine Rescue Co-Ordination Centre at 19.20 hours.
The vessel was fishing in the Irish Sea when its skipper, Sean Daly, reported that its gear had snagged a submerged object, and then said it was being towed backwards.
The vessel was able to break free, and recovered a towed sonar array from a submarine with the markings: “Admiralty Ref - Patrick Engineering Co – Serial No 119 of 1987.”
Irish officials raised serious concerns over the incident with the British authorities as it came less than a decade after an Irish trawler, Sharelga, sank after an incident with a British submarine.
Department of Foreign Affairs officials were notified on September 15th, 1989 that Mr Daly had initiated legal action for salvage under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 – with the buoy being retained by the Irish authorities "until payment is made for salvage".
A department briefing note on September 13th, 1989 noted that the area involved is "marked on Admiralty charts as a submarine exercise area and fishermen are cautioned to keep a lookout for submarine activity".
Irish officials were subsequently made aware that Britain had obtained advice from an Irish lawyer that they could claim "state immunity" – which would prevent salvage being claimed and would involve the return of the sonar array.
Irish civil servants decided it was best not to give specific advice to the British Embassy but to make it clear that a negotiated settlement was in everyone's best interests, The Irish Independent reports.
"I suggest that we reply informally to the Embassy on the line that – the question of state immunity is for the courts to decide and we are not in a position to offer advice on the matter," J Farrell of the Anglo Irish Section wrote on September 13, 1990.
"We would naturally prefer if an agreed settlement could be achieved without the need for litigation."
The memo concluded with “the warning that the Department of Foreign Affairs could not interfere as requested by the British Embassy, given the statutory obligations on the Receiver of Wrecks under the Merchant Shipping Act".
Read more in the Irish Independent HERE
