The Department of Transport is examining the recommendation from the Marine Casualty Investigation Board that new regulations should be made to govern the safe use of recreational craft used for commercial purposes, which should include mandatory fire detection on vessels used for charter purposes.”

It is likely that the MCIB recommendation will be accepted and that new regulations will be drawn up to deal with the issues raised by the Board’s investigation into a fire aboard a chartered cruiser on the River Shannon near Jamestown, Co.Roscommon, on September 8, 2020 when four people aboard were rescued by a passing charter boat.

As Afloat reported previously, the detailed MCIB report concluded that the fire aboard the vessel had “started as a result of one of a number of potential electrical issues.” However, it said that the extent of the fire meant that "the exact component at fault will never be definitely determined."

Charter vessels are not considered passenger vessels and therefore are not subject to the requirements of the Merchant Shipping Act 1992. Instead, charter vessels come under the legislative requirements and recommendations detailed in the Code of Practice for the Safe Operation of Recreational Craft (2017).

The cover page of the MCIB report

The MCIB says that the CoP “does not provide for the mandatory fitting of fire detection systems on recreational craft and hence there was no fire detection system fitted to the Carrickcraft vessel ‘X4’ aboard which the fire occurred,

“If this fire had started while any of the party were asleep then the consequences could have been more serious.”

The MCIB report recorded that, on 6 September 2020 “four clients of Carrickcraft, having rented a Linssen GrandSturdy 35.0 motor cruiser on the previous day, departed Carrick-on-Shannonnheading south. Approximately 45 minutes into their journey, near Jamestown, a fire broke out in the engine compartment. The clients abandoned the vessel onto a passing charter boat. The fire brigade attended the scene and extinguished the fire. Soon afterwards the vessel sank in approximately eight metres of water.”

Firefighters bring the blaze on board the pleasure craft under control Photo: via MCIB report

Linssen Yachts commented on the MCIB report that it had been producing “this series of yachts since 2005. By now over 500 yachts of this series have been produced, both for private and charter use. Up to now, we have not seen or experienced a similar fire incident on these yachts.”

The MCIB has recommended that the Minister for Transport make regulations “to govern the safe use of recreational craft being used for commercial purposes, which should include mandatory fire detection on vessels used for charter purposes.”

Charter boat skippers have warned the Government they will go out of business if Fáilte Ireland continues to exclude them from Covid-19 related supports offered to the tourism sector.

As The Times Ireland edition reports today, at least 100 boats around the coast offering wildlife tours, whale watching, and sea angling trips are seriously affected.

Afloat's Tom MacSweeney reported in January the issue of how boats are excluded from State COVID Support because they are mobile.

“When tourism recovers, there won’t be vessels there for Fáilte Ireland to direct visitors to, and valuable marine expertise will be lost,” the association chairman Donal Kennedy warns.

He says his members are “beyond frustration” at a recent response from Minster for Tourism Catherine Martin, in which she told the association that eligibility criteria for supports were a matter for Fáilte Ireland.

“And Fáilte Ireland is telling us its hands are tied and it is a matter for government, which seems to have forgotten this is an island,” Kennedy says.

Covid-19 related tourism industry supports initiated last year excluded many boat owners and coach operators as they did not have fixed premises.

Last month, Fáilte Ireland introduced grants for businesses that were not eligible for the Government's Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS).

Its new tourism business continuity scheme was tailored for outdoor activity providers, tourism golf courses, hop-on hop-off bus tours , cruise hire companies, campsites  and boat tours operators. 

However, most charter skippers were once again not eligible, as most earn below the minimum annual turnover of €50,000 required for applicants.

In a letter to the association, Martin said that the turnover threshold was “based on the likelihood that, for businesses with a turnover of less than €50,000, non-payroll fixed costs will be sufficiently low to enable the owners furlough the business by availing of other state aids”

“We are unable to make enough income to cover our operating costs, not to mention make a living, due to Covid-19 restrictions, as our operating costs can range anything between €8,500 and €10,000,” Kennedy said.

Charter skippers’ association eastern representative Eamonn Hayes, who owns one of ten vessels operating out of Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford, said that the fleet had been able to put to sea for three months last year.

“We ran trips to the Saltee Islands and for sea anglers, but at 50 per cent capacity – and our annual berthing fees cost around €2,500,” Hayes said.

“Our charter fleet attracts thousands of tourists to the south-east coast in normal years, and I cannot understand how the Government cannot recognise the value of this,” he said.

“The pandemic unemployment payment will pay for household bills, but not for a business with annual maintenance costs of between €8,500 and €10,000,” Hayes said.

The recreational angling sector is valued at 850 million euro annually, and sea angling accounts for about 40 per cent of overseas angling tourism in normal years with an annual estimated value of 29 million euro, according to Fáilte Ireland.

The Department of Tourism said that operational issues are a matter for Fáilte Ireland.

Read more in The Times here