Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Accidents) Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2025-04-08
============================================================

Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

I move amendment No. 1:
In page 23, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following:
"Special provisions for search and rescue operations
30. (1) When conducting a marine safety investigation involving search and rescue operations, the Marine Accident Investigation Unit shall:
(a) take into account the unique operational context of emergency response;
(b) consider the time-critical and high-risk nature of such operations;
(c) distinguish between decisions made during emergency response and standard maritime operations; and
(d) ensure investigators have appropriate expertise in search and rescue operations.
(2) The Marine Accident Investigation Unit shall establish a memorandum of understanding with relevant search and rescue organisations, including but not limited to the Irish Coast Guard, RNLI and volunteer rescue services, to ensure appropriate coordination during investigations.
(3) Volunteer members of search and rescue organisations shall not be required to:
(a) submit to medical examinations or provide biological samples under section 29 without their consent except where required by a coroner;
(b) attend interviews outside of reasonable hours or locations considering their volunteer status; or
(c) produce documents beyond those that would reasonably be expected to be maintained by a volunteer organisation.
(4) Safety recommendations arising from investigations involving search and rescue operations shall be developed in consultation with relevant search and rescue organisations.".

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-04-08/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:53:41+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-04-08