Compulsory use of lifejackets on leisure craft is unlikely to be introduced by the Government - for the simple reason that such a regulation could prove impossible to police with the resources available for marine safety.
The Department of the Marine and Natural Resources has placed much emphasis on awareness-raising about basic precautions, in co-operation with the National Safe ty Council and other bodies such as Bord Iascaigh Mhara the RNLI, the Irish Sailing Association and the Health and Safety Authority.
There has also been considerable expansion of the Irish Marine Emergency Service to match the increase in activity on the water.
More than half the adult population is now involved in water-based activities, and 150,000 visitors participate annually in marine leisure, according to Marine Institute statistics.
The IMES has concluded a number of liaison agreements with bodies such as the Civil Defence and local authorities, and the Government has also agreed to extend its remit to inland waterways.
The Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Dr Woods, has introduced a successful grants scheme for fishing and sea-angling vessels, administered by BIM, whereby grants of 50 per cent are provided for safety equipment such as life-saving and firefighting and navigational and communications equipment.
Fishing vessels account for half of all emergency call-outs, but this is closely matched by leisure craft, according to the Department.
RNLI statistics for last year showed that pleasure craft - sail, power and manual - accounted for an average of 45 per cent of all calls for help met by voluntary lifeboat crews, with commercial fishing craft and people in trouble at sea accounting for 27 per cent of calls. The secretary-general of the Irish Sailing Association, Mr Paddy Boyd, says lifejacket use could not be made compulsory when it cannot be policed. A high proportion of leisure sailors involved in competition now wear them, and they are mandatory on ISA junior schemes and in instruction.
The association is concerned about several other marine safety issues, including the change in licensing for VHF radio use as a result of the introduction earlier this year of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System - an integrated satellite and terrestrial communications system. The new fees and requirements for new applicants could discourage VHF use, with implications for marine safety, Mr Boyd says.
The NSC said regulations on lifejacket use were a matter for the Department, as its role was one of promoting water safety.
"We would favour anything that encourages the use of lifejackets," said Ms Caroline Spillane, NSC spokeswoman. Compulsory safety regulations in relation to adventure centres are to be introduced by the Government following a report commissioned by the Minister, Dr Woods.
Last week, he underpinned this commitment with the presentation of £30,000 to AFAS, the umbrella body for adventure sports, to cover costs of an intensified voluntary safety approval scheme.
This will then be replaced by the new authority, which will administer compulsory regulations and will involve all centres.
Last June, an interdepartmental committee advised that instruction in adventure sports be subject to statutory control, with penalties for breaches in safety guidelines.
The committee found adventure sports here to be generally safe, but warned that there could be "no guarantee" against the occurrence of an accident similar to that in Lyme Bay off the British coast in 1993, when four young canoeists drowned.
The four dolphins still swimming off the Mayo town of Belmullet will remain undisturbed as long as they are not under stress and their condition will be monitored throughout the week, Mr Eugene Brennan of the Marine Mammal Rescue Team said yesterday.
Mr Brennan appealed for public sensitivity; car drivers using headlights in the harbour area may have disturbed the mammals over the past few nights, he said.
