Transport Minister asked to consider using gardaí and naval officers to enforce safety at sea
The Marine Casualty Investigation Board has questioned if more criminal prosecutions are needed, given so many of its investigations into drownings highlight the frequency in which regulations requiring the wearing of personal flotation devices at sea are 'flouted.'
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The MCIB said the failure of seafarers to follow repeated widespread safety advice about the wearing of PFDs raises the question of whether greater enforcement is needed to get people to follow a 'very obvious safety step.'
It noted fines of up to €5,000 could be imposed for a summary conviction for breaching the relevant regulation governing the wearing of PFDs.
The MCIB made its comments in a report which found it was unlikely to ever definitively establish how a male drowned after falling overboard from a small leisure craft, Lady Pexia, while returning to Nimmos Pier in the Claddagh from a mackerel fishing trip in Galway Bay on August 25th 2023.
The MCIB said there were a number of factors in the death of the victim in his 30s, including a failure to provide and wear a suitable certified PFD.
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The report noted that the skipper provided his friend with a PFD before departure and reminded him to wear it throughout the trip.
The skipper told investigators that the casualty wore the lifejacket for most of the trip, although the MCIB observed that the equipment was defective.
However, the skipper added that the PFD that had been worn by the deceased was on the engine hatch at the time he noticed his friend was missing.
The report noted that the noise level inside the cabin would have made it difficult for the skipper to hear someone shouting for help from the water, while his view of the back of the boat was also restricted by the cabin's aft bulkhead.
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The MCIB said the casualty, who was a good swimmer, would probably have only needed to be kept afloat for a short time.
It added: 'If he was longer in the water it could have kept him alive and afloat for the hour or so before he was recovered by rescue helicopter R118, even allowing for the risk of hypothermia.'
The MCIB established that only one of five PFDs on Lady Pexia were functioning.
It also concluded that the consumption of alcohol at a level of six times the legal drink-driving limit by the casualty was a significant contributory factor and possibly a causal one.
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The MCIB noted that the skipper had told investigators that he noticed his friend consuming two cans of cider.
However, it said it was clear that he had consumed more alcohol as a postmortem had found the level of alcohol in the deceased's body was in the 'toxic' range which would have seriously impaired his judgement.
The skipper, who issued a distress call on VHF radio at 1.32pm, said he noted a bucket was missing from the boat and he speculated that he thought his friend might have been trying to lean over the side of the boat to retrieve it but got swept overboard.
The body of the deceased was removed from the water at a location about 0.8 nautical miles offshore by an Irish Coast Guard helicopter about an hour later
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The MCIB issued a number of safety recommendations including calling on the skipper of Lady Pexia to ensure PFDs were worn at all times by all persons on board the vessel and to familiarise himself with the law which makes it illegal for anyone in charge of a vessels to allow a person consume alcohol or drugs at sea in way that compromises safety or creates a disturbance or nuisance at sea.
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