The Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) has recommended that the Minister for Transport should consider introducing regulations specific to the installation and operation of articulated hydraulic deck cranes on fishing vessels.

The MCIB recommendation is one of a number issued in its report inquiring into a crush injury sustained by a crewman on board a fishing vessel off the Cork coast in November 2021.

Recommendations in relation to risk assessments, safety legislation, hazard warnings and training for use of articulated deck cranes are also published in the report.

The incident occurred on board the 21 metre-long fishing vessel Aquila which was fishing south of the Kinsale gas rigs on November 7th, 2021.

The vessel with five crew onboard had left the fishing port of Union Hall, Co Cork, the night before. Wind at the time was force three, westerly, with a moderate sea.

The wooden twin trawler was rigged for Danish seine net fishing

As the report states, “at approximately 12.00 hrs on the 7th November, the fishing vessel was at the fishing grounds and the crew were hauling the second haul of the day using the vessel’s net handling crane”.

It says that the crane’s hydraulic system “experienced a sudden loss of hydraulic oil pressure, causing the crane’s jib and power head to uncontrollably lower inboard trapping a crew member between the power head and the underside of the deck supporting the net drum”.

The crewman, who is from the Philippines and had been on the crew for two years, suffered crush injuries.

The vessel’s skipper contacted the Cork Coast Guard Radio (CGR) by VHF radio at 12.38 hrs, advising it of the incident and requesting a medical evacuation of the injured crewman.

It says that at approximately 15.00 hrs, the Irish Coast Guard helicopter R115 from Shannon airlifted the injured man ashore to Cork University Hospital (CUH) for medical attention.

The man was discharged from CUH on November 8th, and was passed fit to fly home. He returned to the Philippines to recover.

It says he recuperated, and has since returned to work as a fisher onboard an Irish registered fishing vessel.

More details are in the MCIB report here

The Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) has said that boarding and disembarking risk assessment and associated policies and procedures should “immediately be reviewed” after the serious injury of a diver working on salmon farms off the Galway coast.

The 33-year-old male contract diver, who was contracted by the salmon farm operators to inspect and maintain the salmon cages around Kilkieran Bay, Co Galway, sustained his injuries when he was pinned between two vessels during a transfer from one to the other off Ardmore pier on November 8th, 2022.

The incident occurred when a feed barge was making a rendezvous with a smaller vessel carrying five people, including two contract divers.

The injured casualty was brought back onboard the vessel and was subsequently airlifted to Galway University Hospital (GUH) where his injuries were assessed and included multiple fractures to the pelvis and fractured hip socket joints, the MCIB report says.

At the time of the interview with the MCIB in January 2023, the casualty was out of work, the report notes, and was walking aided by crutches.

Visibility was moderate or poor and winds on the day in question, November 8th 2022, were generally fresh force 5 to strong force 6 (mean wind speed 17 to 27 knots) and gusting up to 40 knots for a time.

In its analysis, the MCIB says that “means of safe access was not appropriate for transferring from one vessel to another and the practice of stepping over the side rails and onto the feed barge’s tyre fender became normalised”.

“ The prevailing conditions including the direction and height of the swell were contributing factors to this incident,”it says, as the licence required the vessel to operate in favourable weather.

There were missed opportunities during the purchase process to verify safe access to and from the vessels as both had safe means of access, but were not compatible when the vessels were moored alongside each other, the MCIB report says.

It says the operator's risk assessment failed to identify the deficiencies in vessel transfer operations and in particular with regard to third parties such as the contracted diver.

It says while the operation was identified by the operator under their safe systems of work, it was not authorised by the Marine Survey Office by way of a “permit to tender”.

In a series of recommendations to the salmon farm operator and owners of the two vessels on reviewing procedures, the MCIB also called on the Minister for Transport, in conjunction with his marine counterpart, to consider if it is “ appropriate or not” to issue a Marine Notice or similar, directed to the operators and those involved in marine aquaculture activities.

It recommends that the Marine Notice would remind operators and all involved of the dangers associated with boarding and transiting vessels at sea;

that operators have a safe system of work including suitable and sufficient risk assessments in place for operations carried out at sea including transfer of personnel onto fish cages and feed barges;

and that operators take steps to ensure that vessels transferring personnel at sea are properly licensed in accordance with passenger boat legislation and “permit to tender” for tendering operations as applicable.

The report is here

The Marine Casualty Investigation Board has recommended that the Minister for Justice should consider carrying out an audit of the crewing arrangements of any fishing vessel or vessels to ensure non-EEA crew are compliant with the rules governing work permits.

It also says the minister should also ensure there is a robust system in place to ensure those given permits have a sufficient knowledge of English to be able to communicate with fellow crew on board Irish registered fishing vessels.

The MCIB recommendations have been made on foot of its investigation into the circumstances surrounding a serious leg injury sustained by a crew member on board a vessel, the John B, off the east coast in July 2020.

The incident occurred when the crew’s leg became trapped between the centre weight and the weight retaining cage at the stern of the vessel during a prawn fishing operation on July 17th, 2020.

The load was adjusted allowing the injured crew member to extricate his trapped leg from the grip of the centre weight, and other crew provided first aid.

The owners were informed, the vessel steamed to the nearest port, Howth, and the man was taken to Beaumont Hospital emergency department by private vehicle.

No external medical or emergency assistance was sought or requested by the skipper or the owners, the report notes.

The report concludes that no risk assessment for hauling the nets was shared with the crew, and some were employed without mandatory training.

It says the skipper was “inexperienced on the vessel and relied on his crew to recover the gear unsupervised, while he remained in the wheelhouse”.

It says evidence from the skipper asserting that the crew member had been warned about the dangers of standing on the weight while recovering the fishing gear, but continued to do so, “is not supported by any detail or any other evidence”.

It also says this assertion is denied by the casualty.

It says the design and layout of the fishing gear on this vessel was poor, making communication between the winch operator and deck crew difficult.

It says the winch operator could not see the crewmembers feeding the nets on to the reels, and clear lines of communication were also not in place, given that the winch operator could not see the crewmembers feeding the nets on to the reels.

“ Had there been a safe design and planned effective communications in place effective supervision could have been adhered to,”it says.

“ Communications in general onboard the vessel was hampered by a language barrier between crewmembers,” it says and there was a dispute over the number of crew on board during the trip.

The MCIB says it “appears to be the more probable case on the basis of the evidence available” that the crew comprised five and the skipper on the trip in question, and not the normal crew of six and the skipper.

“One man less in the crew complement can of course increase the fatigue factor and also increase the workload on the remaining crew,” the report says

“In addition, there is the issues as to appropriate manning for particular operations. The Working Time Regulation records provided raise some issues as to how many of the crew were working on the operation of deploying and recovering the nets on the day in question,”it says.

“Given the experience of the crew, the nature of the operations and the nature of the trip, a crew of six and a skipper would have been more appropriate on the vessel,” it says.

Once the incident occurred, given the seriousness of the injury, the skipper should have contacted Medico Cork through the Coast Guard Radio Station for advice and arranged safe evacuation to the hospital, but this did not occur, it says.

“ The owners and operators of the vessel did not comply with a variety of legislation in place governing operations and safety of the crew of an Irish registered fishing vessel,”it says.

“It has not been possible to determine definitively who was the employer of the casualty or the other crew members at the time, given the lack of documentation,”it says, and there is an issue with determining the owner.

“ It is essential on any fishing vessel to have clarity on ownership and on the employer given that the regulatory regime imposes duties on owners and on employers,”the MCIB says.

The vessel was submitted for decommissioning, and the report makes a number of recommendations addressed to the registered owners, to the Minister for Justice, Minister for Transport and Bord Iascaigh Mhara.

The full report and recommendations are on the MCIB website

There are two very specific points in the annual report of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board for last year (2022), which, in pursuance of maritime safety, should be heeded by the sectors involved – watersports and the fishing industry.

The Chairperson of the Board, Claire Callanan, recalls the recommendations made in the 2021 report about incidents associated with water sports and water recreational activities and says: “The MCIB urges those bodies to whom recommendations have been addressed in these recent reports to take steps to improve much-needed safety regimes..”

On the fishing industry, she says: “It is clear that many incidents on fishing vessels are not reported to the MCIB as required by legislation.”

Marine Casualty Investigation Board Chairperson Claire Callanan

These are strong comments on the sectors concerned.

“In the MCIB Annual Reports for 2020 and for 2021 we reported on incidents associated with water sports and water recreational activities. We focussed on the recommendations for organisations (especially clubs and commercial entities) aimed at improving their safety standards. In February 2023 we published a report following a lengthy investigation into a tragic fatality that focussed on the safety regime in kayaking in third-level institutions.”

The Chairperson says that the MCIB has made extensive recommendations to the Minister, to Water Safety Ireland and to Canoeing Ireland and Sport Ireland, including:

• That Canoeing Ireland, in conjunction with Sport Ireland, should consider the establishment, and promotion of a register of Canoeing Ireland qualified instructors with their qualifications that would be available to the public.
  • That Canoeing Ireland, in conjunction with Sport Ireland, should consider the establishment of a scheme for the audit of the safety policies and practices of entities affiliated with this national governing body.
  • That Water Safety Ireland should consider actions to further promote both public awareness of kayaking safety and measures to prevent kayaking accidents

On the fishing industry, Ms.Callanan comments: “ It is clear that many incidents on fishing vessels are not reported to the MCIB as required by legislation. Even from the limited information available to the MCIB from Coast Guard situation reports it appears that many incidents could have been avoided by safety assessment and planning and by proper training of crew.

As noted in MCIB Report No. 302/2022, the Maritime Safety Strategy identified that the fishing vessel sector accounts for a significant proportion of all maritime fatalities and that fishing vessels less than 15 metres (m) in length make up 90% of the Irish fishing fleet in numbers. Fishing vessel safety, particularly in relation to small and medium fishing vessels, is a particular concern. Among the key factors contributing to the loss of life in the fishing sector is working alone and fatigue.”

The full MCIB report for 2022 is available on the MCIB website

A skipper survived severe pain during a deck accident which could have been alleviated if he had been able to access a knife to free his leg, according to the official investigation.

The Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) report into the incident on board An Portán Óir, a 9.9-metre fishing vessel, in Dingle Bay, Co Kerry, last October noted that lack of a personal locator beacon (PLB) was also a contributory factor.

However, having a designated person ashore to raise the alarm if the vessel was overdue proved “invaluable”, the MCIB report notes.

The report recounts how on Friday, October 14th, 2022, the boat was taken on a routine fishing trip to lift, bait and shoot lobster pots in Dingle Bay.

“The boat was operated by the owner (the Skipper), and he was a qualified and experienced boat operator with valid certification,” it says.

The Cygnus 33 GRP decked vessel with an inboard diesel engine is registered in Tralee, Co Kerry.

“The skipper was shooting the final string of 30 lobster pots, with ten pots in the water, when his leg became entangled in the pot ropes. The boat was in gear to stretch the string, and the rope tightened around the skipper’s leg, and he was pulled aft,” it says.

“ The skipper grabbed the rope between the pots, and tied it to the handrail to avoid being pulled overboard. He was unable to free himself as the rope around his leg was under tension, and he remained stuck in this position until he was rescued around four hours later,”it says.

It notes that the skipper normally had a knife tied to the rails aft, but this had been removed during painting and had not been replaced.

This was “a major factor in the skipper being unable to free himself”,it says.

It also notes that he was not wearing an approved personal flotation device/lifejacket and PLB on deck and if he had he would have been able to activate the PLB and get assistance as soon as the incident occurred.

Under Section 9.2.4 of the Code of Practice for the Design, Construction, Equipment and Operation of Small Fishing Vessels of less than 15 metres length, “an approved PLB capable of transmitting a distress alert on 406 MHz band, shall be provided for each person on board and shall be carried by each person on deck at all times”.

“Each PLB should be ready to be manually activated”, the code states.

“ This lack of PLB is considered a contributing factor in the extent of the injuries sustained,” it says.

The alarm was raised when the boat failed to return, and a search was initiated with the Dingle lifeboat, local vessels and Coast Guard rescue helicopters.

The skipper was treated in hospital for “severe” muscle and nerve injuries which prevented him from returning to work for some time.

“The skipper always had a designated person ashore who was aware of his voyage and his expected return time. This proved to be invaluable,” the report says.

“When the alarm was raised, and the rescue services were tasked, there was also an excellent response from the local community, and even though the skipper suffered serious injuries, without the rapid response, the outcome may have been far more serious,” it says.

Read the full report here

Modifying vessels, including making changes to a vessel’s engine, without proper evaluation of the consequences, is very dangerous, the Marine Casualty Investigation Board has warned. It has urged the Minister for Transport to introduce rules for open commercial fishing boats, assign a minimum freeboard based on the boat size, and ensure that open boats have sufficient reserve buoyancy to stay afloat if swamped with sea water.

The MCIB Report is into the sinking of the 5.35 metre open fishing boat, Anna Louise, which was “on a routine fishing” trip to lift lobster pots in Bantry Bay. It says this was “a very serious marine casualty.”

The report says the fibreglass boat was operated by the owner’s brother (the Skipper), a qualified and experienced boat operator with valid certification. The Skipper had lifted two strings of lobster pots onboard with a total of ten pots and was retrieving the marker buoy when a wave came over the stern, flooding the boat. The Skipper tried to reach the bailing bucket, but a further wave swamped the boat, and the boat sank quickly. The Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) floated free and was activated. The distress signal was received by Valentia Marine Rescue Sub-Centre (MRSC) who initiated rescue operations. Bantry inshore lifeboat was tasked as well as Castletownbere lifeboat and Rescue Helicopter R115. The Skipper swam ashore and made his way through fields to a house from where he called to advise he was safe and well. The rescue operations were terminated. The boat was later salvaged from 12 metres of water. There were no injuries and no pollution.

MCIB Report photo of Anna Louise

The weather on the date of the incident was a maximum of Force 4-5 on the Beaufort Scale.

Waves were of 1.5 metres to 2.5 metres,which is at the top of the allowable range for this type of boat, according to the report.

Modifications had been carried out to the boat, the MCIB report says, which had reduced the freeboard. “These modifications should have been presented, for approval, to the Surveyor who had issued the Code of Practice Certificate in accordance with CoP requirement. The original freeboard was considered small but there is no minimum freeboard specified in the CoP for open boats of this size.

“The boat was swamped by waves coming over the stern and filling the boat with sea water. The boat sank quickly as there was no reserve buoyancy when it was full of water. The boat freeboard had been reduced due to additional weights onboard making it more vulnerable to swamping.”

The Board makes a number of safety recommendations including that the Minister for Transport should issue a Marine Notice reminding owners of fishing vessels of the dangers associated with modifying vessels, including changes to a vessel’s engine, without proper evaluation of the consequences.

“The Minister for Transport should introduce rules for open commercial fishing boats < 15 m to assign a minimum freeboard based on the boat size and to ensure open boats have sufficient reserve buoyancy to allow the boat to stay afloat if swamped with sea water.

“The Minister for Transport should issue instructions to panel surveyors when inspecting open commercial fishing boats that do not have a Declaration of Conformity or CE plate showing the CE category and maximum design load, to require a full load test to ensure boat skippers know the maximum safe loads allowed onboard and the minimum freeboard allowed.

The full report is available on the MCIB website

The Marine Casualty Investigation Board has recommended that the Minister for Transport should amend or update the Code of Practice for the Safe Operation of Recreational Craft to advise owners to ensure that auxiliary engines fitted to racing yachts provide the necessary power to allow safe inshore or coastal passage, particularly when adverse weather or sea conditions prevail.

This recommendation is included in the MCIB report into the fire which burnt and sank the yacht Black Magic in Ringabella Bay off Cork Harbour in December 2021.

The MCIB also says the Minister for Transport should publish a Marine Notice highlighting the risks associated with refuelling operations or decanting volatile flammable liquids at sea or alongside, to or from open containers in the vicinity of hot and exposed surfaces.

The smoke plume clearly visible from the shore

The yacht Black Magic with one person onboard, sailed from Crosshaven, Co Cork, for Kinsale Harbour at about 10.30 a.m. on December 13, 2021, but an hour-and-a-quarter later off Cork Harbour the outboard engine on the transom of the yacht, caught fire which spread rapidly. The Skipper called for help in a ‘Mayday’ message on VHF. A fishing boat in the vicinity relayed this to the Coast Guard at Valentia. Another fishing vessel rescued the Skipper at approximately 12.00 hrs, and a Port of Cork RIB that responded to the ‘Mayday’ took him ashore. He was not injured. The yacht sank at 12.48 pm at Ringabella Bay.

The MCIB report makes three findings, concluding that “the continuous operation of the outboard engine onboard yacht Black Magic as it made the passage from Crosshaven marina to the vicinity off Ringabella Bay at the engine’s maximum design capacity caused the engine to suffer a significant mechanical failure such that hot engine components were exposed to petrol fuel and oil lubricants which spontaneously ignited and caused a fire onboard. This consumed the vessel which subsequently sank off Ringabella Bay. 

“The lack of wind and the sub-optimal capacity of the yacht’s outboard engine to power the yacht at the required speed as it motor sailed out of Cork Harbour was a contributory factor in the loss of yacht Black Magic.

Black Magic on fire. Photo: courtesy Cian O'Connor

“Refuelling the outboard engine by topping up the engine’s fuel tank likely resulted in a fuel spillage in the vicinity of the engine and transom. The spilt fuel was likely to have been a contributory factor in the subsequent fire, which started at the outboard engine and resulted in the loss of the yacht.”

The Skipper, who is not named, having read the report, commented to the MCIB that the yacht was “extremely light” and the outboard, which the MCIB identified as a PARSUN 3 horsepower, single cylinder 4-stroke, mounted on a transom bracket was sufficient to push her in the flat calm waters on the day. He said  that he was “hugging the coast in flat calm and zero wind” and had raised the mainsail at the RCYC marina. He said that it took him “a long time to get over this, and was having nightmares for a long time.”

The full investigation report is available on the MCIB website here and see a vid of the burning yacht on youtube here

The Chairperson of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board has warned that regulation may well be required for watersports in the leisure marine sector if voluntary standards set by accredited bodies are not adhered to.

That serious warning is contained in the annual report of the Board for last year, which recounts that in its report for 2020, “we strongly encouraged all organisations (especially clubs and commercial entities) associated with watersports and water recreational activities to audit their safety systems and to have regard to all guidelines or recommendations issued by any governing sports bodies.”

Chairperson Claire Callanan says: “It is disappointing to note that in 2021 the MCIB continued to be advised of situations where little or no regard was paid to governing body safety guidelines.”

"little or no regard was paid to governing body safety guidelines"

She says: “A number of recommendations were made in relation to the kayaking/canoeing sector, including ones related to commercial users. These included a recommendation that consideration should be given to the establishment of a directory of commercial providers of coastal sea and river paddle facilities and that consideration should be given to how best to enhance safety standards within the commercial paddle sport provider sector and whether a mandatory registration or licencing scheme, which would provide for the registration of instructors and their qualifications should be introduced.

“We have observed a continuing increase in the number of very serious incidents involving kayakers/canoeists some of which could very easily have led to fatalities.

“Regulation may well be required, especially in the commercial sector, if voluntary standards set by accredited bodies are not adhered to.”

The MCIB report also says that the Board has seen an increase in “incidents involving fishing vessels of all sizes.

“This has also been the assessment of our European Union (EU) partners and is feeding into the draft of a new EU Directive.” 

As a result of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decision in July 2020 (which held that Ireland had not correctly implemented Article 8.1 of Directive 2009/18/EC) the Board of the MCIB has had to operate with only three members. The Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) (Amendment) Bill 2021 was presented to the Dáil on 11 November 2021 and passed its final stages in the Seanad on 5 May 2022. The Act will facilitate an increased composition of the Board based on a minimum of five and a maximum of seven members appointed by the Minister, along with other necessary operational and technical revisions to support the ongoing functioning of the Board.

The Chairperson comments in her annual statement: “The Board looks forward to the appointment of additional Board members at the earliest opportunity.”

Dun Laoghaire senator Victor Boyhan has called for a more transparent and accountable Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB).

He has also called for a new mechanism to appoint members to the MCIB board.

Speaking during a debate on the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) Bill in Seanad Eireann earlier this week, Senator Boyhan recalled the EU Court of Justice ruling issued last year.

The ruling stated that Ireland has failed to provide for a maritime accident investigation body that was "independent in its organisation and decision-making of any party whose interests could conflict with the task".

It was issued after a case was taken to Europe by maritime lawyer Michael Kingston.

Boyhan, a former director of the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company and a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Marine matters, called for “ a robust and properly resourced marine casualty body which has capacity, funds, resources, and organisation structures in place”.

He said that a full-time professional unit was required, and the public needed to have confidence in its work.

Boyhan also called on Minister of State for Transport Hildegarde Naughton to publish the Lacey and Clinch reports on the handling of maritime investigations.

He recalled that the Lacey report was undertaken by Ms Róisín Lacey SC, and was delivered on to the Department of Transport on August 25th, 2010, but remained unpublished.

The report, commissioned by the then Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, recommended establishing a national accident investigation office which was “independent in every way” from the Department of Transport, encompassing aviation, rail and marine, Boyhan said.

The Lacey report identified that it had to be done to comply with an EU directive that was being transposed into Irish law, he said.

“The Minister of State will be very familiar with this as I have seen her engagement on this legislation,” he continued.

The Clinch report was conducted by Captain Steve Clinch of the British-based company, Clinchmaritime Ltd, he said.

“The report was commissioned by the Department of Transport to carry out an independent review of the organisational structures of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, MCIB,” he said.

“The key objective of the review was to assess the current organisational structures for marine casualty investigation and to set out in a report any recommendations to achieve the most appropriate and effective marine casualty investigation structures for Ireland, taking into account national, EU and international law and obligations,” he said.

Boyhan said the Clinch report was delivered to the Department of Transport in 2021.

The Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) Bill will be back in the Seanad for Report and Final Stage next week.

An unattended electronic device, possibly a mobile phone on charge, may have ignited a fire on a west Cork fishing vessel which sank last year.

The Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) report into the sinking of the fishing vessel Horizon 20 nautical miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, Co Cork, on May 14th, 2021.

The skipper broadcast a “Mayday” on VHF and the four crew on board were recovered from their liferaft by the offshore supply ship, Pathfinder (italics).

Despite efforts to fight the fire by a responding offshore supply ship, Maersk Maker, the fishing vessel sank at approximately 07.00 hrs, close to the position where it initially caught fire.

The MCIB report said there was some sea surface oil pollution reported which appears to have dissipated naturally.

Weather and sea conditions at the time were good with light winds and a moderate sea. The crew, who were not injured, were subsequently transferred to the RNLI Courtmacsherry lifeboat and brought ashore.

The MCIB report found the vessel was materially fit for purpose and in a stable condition immediately prior to the incident, and its condition was not a factor in the fire and sinking.

It says while the cause of the outbreak of the fire is “not known with any certainty”, it is “ reasonably deduced” that an unattended mobile phone or other similar electronic device which was being charged and/or an electronic device battery charger into a 240V AC circuit in the crew accommodation cabin may have been the source.

It says a time delay in fighting the fire caused by the failure of the smoke detector alarm on board allowed the blaze to take hold and spread before being spotted by the skipper when he returned to the wheelhouse.

It says that exposure of the flexible plastic hose components of the vessel’s machinery cooling systems to the fire in the engine room - allowing them to melt and lose their watertight integrity – allowed seawater in and the vessel sank.

The report says that had the fire detection system onboard the fishing vessel been “more in-line with the more stringent requirements of the International FSS Code which requires the fire detection system to include both audible and visual fault signals, the fire in the accommodation cabin would likely have been detected earlier”.

However, only audible smoke detector alarms were fitted as the Horizon was deemed an “existing vessel” in 2007 when a relevant statutory instrument on fire detection was promulgated.

The report says that two of the vessel’s crew did not have the required BIM safety training courses completed.

The report recommends that the Minister for Transport should prepare and issue a marine notice reminding owners, skippers, officers and crew members of fishing vessels of the requirement to have basic safety training in accordance with statutory instrument 587 of 2001.

A marine notice should also be issued ensuring that fire detection systems and alarms are regularly tested and maintained in an operational condition, it says.

This includes “guidance on the inspection and testing of fire detection systems onboard fishing vessels of 15–24 metres in length”.

The report also recommends Minister for Transport should amend the Irish Maritime Directorate Strategy 2021 – 2025 policy document in relation to specified aspects of maritime safety.