Michael Collins urges state apology over Whitty Island disaster

Minister, first of all, I'd like to welcome you to your new brief. This is the first time I've had that opportunity to do so on the Dáil, and I wish you the best. In the previous ministerial role, we work very close together, and I hope maybe we can work close together on issues going forward. And, you know, I would have serious concerns in relation to this bill going forward. I really do think that lessons have not been learned, and we need to go back before we go ahead, and we need to talk. And look at areas where lessons haven't been learned, and I suppose the Whitty Island disaster is the most important lesson that anyone in this country could have learned, with 50 people dying off the coast of Bantry in the 8th of January 1979. And to this day, and I've brought it up on numerous occasions, and I do like to welcome Michael Kingston here to the gallery, because he's a man that has really spearheaded the campaign for this and other marine tragedies down through the years. I know a better person to do so. But I plead with the government to at least have the decency and the respect to give an apology to the families of the Whitty Island disaster. And not alone, I've spoken to Michael, but I've also spoken to other family members, Lady Leran. I don't think she'd mind where, I won't be mentioning names, but in Germany recently, when I called her, she said to me, like, why was nothing ever done? Why did we never get justice for our families? And that's something that hurts people, obviously. And I don't think that the way it has been supported going forward, that we could be left in a similar situation to what we visited before. And, you know, I'm surrounded by water, and I quite often bring up about fisheries issues in the Dáil, because not many TDs want to speak about that, but there's fishing tragedies out there. Fishermen have lost their lives, and a lot of mystery surrounds their losses. But I still very much focus, when we're talking about this merchant shipping investigation, that we need to concentrate on the past before we go forward. And I do ask the Minister to give some time and consideration and maybe meet with the Banche Whitty Island group, led by Michael, to, I suppose, put there the issues that maybe need to be put to bid and need to be resolved. And the state needs to recognise that and have not recognised or refused to recognise this for the last 40, 50 years. And it's not good enough. It's left hurt for innocent people that lost their lives, including a relation of my own. They've lost his life that night in Whitty, and Michael's rather, and many, many more. And I'd ask you, Minister, to maybe re-look at this bill going forward, and also, while you're doing that, that you might work with us to, I suppose, at least have an apology by the state to the families of the Whitty Island disaster, there are 47 of them being French and seven Irish that lost their lives on that terrible night in Bantry. And it's something that they've pleaded for, they've looked for, they've put their case as strong as they can, and they've been neglected by the state and forgotten by the state. And someone like you, Minister, might be the person to make that change because we have a new government. And I pleaded with the former Taoiseach and the present Taoiseach to make that apology, and that hasn't been done so. So I'm asking you again here tonight maybe to sit down with us going forward and try and create that at least, and that's not going to bring much solace to the people who've lost their loved ones, but it certainly will be some move in the right direction, Minister. I think they deserve that, their families deserve that, regardless of whether they're Fincher or Irish, they deserve that, and I'd ask you to consider that going forward. Thank you. That concludes the speaker, so I'll refer back to the Minister. Two minutes, Minister. Thank you. Just a lot of issues have been raised there and a lot of reports have been raised there, but if we go back to the Cape Town Agreement, Ireland intends to ratify this agreement, however, important matters in relation to the implementation of this agreement have been raised at the IMO. The Subcommittee on Implementation of IMO instruments developed interim guidelines to assist in the implementation of that agreement, which was adopted in December 2024. The formal resolution is awaited, and we are fully engaged here in Ireland in the process at IMO. And just to say, we have a higher standard than what has been set out in the Cape Town Agreement. The other thing was in relation to the clinch report. Recommendations and observations of the clinch report were published and have or are being implemented, just to put that on the record. This bill is put in place to enhance the safety regime and bring accident investigation in line with best international practice. And it also is there to regulate offshore service vehicles. The other one was the Lacey report. This was not a report, a marine accident investigation. It was a report of a previous government looking at possibilities of setting up a multi-model accident investigation unit as you have set out. This bill we're talking about is about marine accidents only. And there's nothing precluding us from bringing in a multi-model approach in the future. But we need this bill now to improve safety and that. What I was going to say to you is there will be... There's no confusion about the agencies and what they will investigate. The agency will operate on a statutory remit at present all work on investigations work within their statutory remit with no issues. Go to the marine survey offices, etc. If a vehicle is tied up just as very important there's still no difference. You come back in, Mr. Thank you. Deputy Porn. In your reply you didn't refer to it in any way, shape or form in relation to the Whinney Island disaster. And I do fully agree here with Deputy McLaughlin and I'd ask you the same thing. Would you consider meeting with Michael Kingston who's actually here in the gallery but maybe not today but at the O'Reilly's convenience to discuss, I suppose, the works he's been doing down through the years in relation to Whidi and other merchant shipping investigations. His expertise is renowned throughout the world. but the fact is the people of Whidi deserve someone to sit around the table and talk to them. The Whidi Island disaster, the families of the Whidi Island disaster and Michael Kingston is, plus others, our best place to do that and you might give us an answer on that here today. I think, just to confirm what I said was that the report has not been published in full but the recommendations and observations have been published and have been, they have been published. With regard to recruitment, the recruitment is at a clearing stage but no appointments have been made and will not be made until this bill is enacted and the recruitment has gone through the public appointment service process and that's what I would say on that. In relation to the other issues you raised about meeting people, I have no problem, I'm new into this office, I have no problem with meeting people and my officials will come back to you on that. That's part of what I will do. Thank you.