Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) Act, 2000

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR No. 14/2000

Number 14 of 2000
MERCHANT SHIPPING (INVESTIGATION OF MARINE CASUALTIES) ACT, 2000
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
PART 1
Preliminary
Section 1. Short title, commencement, construction, collective citation and effect. 2. Interpretation. 3. Regulations. 4. Laying of orders and regulations before Houses of Oireachtas. 5. Expenses of Minister. 6. Repeals.
PART 2
Marine Casualty Investigation Board
7. Marine Casualty Investigation Board. 8. Independence of Board. 9. Composition of Board. 10. Tenure of office of Chairperson and members of Board appointed by Minister. 11. Remuneration, etc., of Chairperson and members of Board appointed by Minister. 12. Chairperson to ensure efficient performance of functions of Board. 13. Meetings and procedure of Board. 14. Quorum, vacancies, etc. 15. Secretary of Board. 16. Consultants, advisers and investigators. 17. Disclosure of interests. 18. Disclosure of confidential information. 19. Grants to Board. 20. Accounts and audits. 21. Annual report, etc. 22. Board to keep itself informed of certain matters.
PART 3
Marine Casualties
Reporting of Marine Casualties
23. Initial notification of marine casualties. 24. Comprehensive report of marine casualties.
Investigations
25. Purpose of investigations. 26. Investigations. 27. Power to conduct investigation. 28. Search warrant. 29. Power of investigators. 30. Provision of records and other information. 31. Medical or physical examination. 32. Detention of and interference with vessels, etc. 33. Board may re-open investigation.
Reports of Findings of Investigation
34. Publication of report. 35. Contents of report. 36. Preparation of draft report and observations of affected persons.
Protection for Actions in Good Faith
37. Immunities from claims.
Inquiries into Marine Casualties
38. Tribunal of inquiry. 39. Investigation or hearing by Board not to commence or continue where inquiry directed. 40. Minister may re-open inquiry.
PART 4
General
41. Prosecution of summary offences. 42. Penalties. 43. Completion of investigations into certain marine casualties. 44. Amendment of Merchant Shipping Act, 1992. 45. Amendment of Sea Pollution Act, 1991. 46. Advances by Minister for marine or natural resources based tourism or heritage projects.
SCHEDULE
Marine Casualty Investigation Board
Acts Referred to Civil Service Regulation Act, 1956 1956, No. 46 Data Protection Act, 1988 1988, No. 25 European Parliament Elections Act, 1997 1997, No. 2 Freedom of Information Act, 1997 1997, No. 13 Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 1894, c. 60 Merchant Shipping Act, 1992 1992, No. 2 Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1998 Sea Pollution Act, 1991 1991, No. 27
Number 14 of 2000
MERCHANT SHIPPING (INVESTIGATION OF MARINE CASUALTIES) ACT, 2000
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF MARINE CASUALTIES, THE PUBLICATION OF REPORTS ON THE INVESTIGATION OF MARINE CASUALTIES, THE CONDUCTING OF INQUIRIES INTO MARINE CASUALTIES, THE REPEAL OF CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1894, RELATING TO MARINE CASUALTIES, THE AMENDMENT OF THE MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1992, IN RELATION TO THE REGULATION AND USE OF PLEASURE CRAFT AND OTHER VESSELS, THE AMENDMENT OF THE SEA POLLUTION ACT, 1991, THE ADVANCE OF MONEYS BY THE MINISTER FOR THE MARINE AND NATURAL RESOURCES FOR MARINE OR NATURAL RESOURCE BASED TOURISM OR HERITAGE PROJECTS, AND TO PROVIDE FOR RELATED MATTERS. [27th June, 2000]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
PART 1 Preliminary
	Short title, commencement, construction, collective citation and effect.	1.— (1) This Act may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) Act, 2000.
	(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as, by order or orders made by the Minister under this section, may be fixed therefor, either generally or with reference to a particular purpose or provision, and different days may be so fixed for different purposes and different provisions.
	(3) This Act shall be construed as one with the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1998, and may be cited together with those Acts as the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 2000.
	(4) This Act shall not apply to vessels of the Naval Service of the Defence Forces.
	Interpretation.	2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
	“Board” means the Marine Casualty Investigation Board established by section 7 (1);
	“Chairperson” means the Chairperson of the Board, and includes the Deputy Chairperson while acting as or performing the functions of the Chairperson;
	“Chief Surveyor” means the person from time to time holding (including temporarily), or performing the duties of, the position with the designation Chief Surveyor in the Marine Survey Office of the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources;
	“functions” includes powers and duties;
	“investigation” means an investigation of a marine casualty in accordance with Part 3;
	“investigator” means a person appointed under section 26 (2) to be an investigator;
	“Irish waters” includes the territorial sea, the waters on the landward side of the territorial sea, and the estuaries, rivers, lakes and other inland waters (whether or not artificially created or modified), of the State;
	“marine casualty” means an event or process which causes or poses the threat of—
	(a) death or serious injury to a person;
	(b) the loss of a person overboard;
	(c) significant loss or stranding of, or damage to, or collision with, a vessel or property; or
	(d) significant damage to the environment,
	in connection with the operation of—
	(i) a vessel in Irish waters;
	(ii) an Irish registered vessel, in waters anywhere; or
	(iii) a vessel normally located or moored in Irish waters and under the control of a resident of the State, in international waters contiguous to Irish waters,
	and includes an accident or damage referred to in section 26 (1) (b);
	“Minister” means the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources;
	“owner”, in relation to a vessel, means—
	(a) where it is owned by the State or another state and operated by a person who in the State or that other state, as the case may be, is registered as its operator, the person so registered, and
	(b) in any other case—
	(i) the person registered as its owner; or
	(ii) the person who directly or indirectly owns the vessel,
	and includes any part-owner, charterer, manager or operator of the vessel;
	“record” includes any memorandum, book, plan, chart, map, drawing, diagram, pictorial or graphic work or other document, any photograph, film or recording (whether of sound or images or both), any form in which data (within the meaning of the Data Protection Act, 1988 ) are held, any form (including machine-readable form) or thing in which information is held or stored manually, mechanically or electronically, and anything that is a part or copy, in any form, of any of, or any combination of, the foregoing;
	“report” means a published report of an investigation into a marine casualty, in whatever form the report may take;
	“tribunal” means a person or persons appointed under section 38 (2) (a) to hold an inquiry;
	“vessel”, in relation to a marine casualty, means a vessel or craft (or part of a vessel or craft) which at the time of the casualty—
	(a) is registered in the State, or
	(b) is located in the State (including in Irish waters), or
	(c) being a vessel normally located or moored in Irish waters, is under the control of a resident of the State in international waters contiguous to Irish waters,
	and capable of being used, or intended to be used, for navigation or transportation on water, but does not include a seaplane.
	(2) In this Act, including the Schedule—
	(a) a reference to any other enactment shall, except to the extent that the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended by or under any other enactment, including this Act,
	(b) a reference to a section or Part is a reference to a section or Part of this Act, unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended,
	(c) a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph is a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that a reference to some other provision is intended, and
	(d) a reference to the Schedule is a reference to the Schedule to this Act.
	Regulations.	3.—(1) The Minister may make regulations for such matters as are permitted or required by or under this Act to be prescribed by regulations and may make such other regulations as are necessary or expedient for the purpose of giving effect to this Act.
	(2) Regulations made under this section may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary.
	Laying of orders and regulations before Houses of Oireachtas.	4.—Every order (other than an order under section 1 (2)) and every regulation made by the Minister under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order or regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the order or regulation is laid before it, the order...