Merchant Shipping (Safety Convention) Act , 1952

PART I. Preliminary and General.

1. Short title and collective citation.

(2)The Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1947, and this Act may be cited together as the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1952.

2. Commencement.

3. Interpretation and construction accepted Safety Convention certificate.

“ accepted Safety Convention certificate ” has the meaning assigned to it by section 28 of this Act;

“ the Act of 1933 ” means the Merchant Shipping (Safety and Load Line Conventions) Act, 1933 (No. 42 of 1933);

“ collision regulations ” means regulations made under Section 418 of the Principal Act;

“ construction rules ” means rules made under section 10 of this Act;

“ country to which the Safety Convention applies ” means—

(a)a country the government of which has been declared under section 4 of this Act to have accepted the Safety Convention, and has not been so declared to have denounced that Convention;

(b)a territory to which it has been so declared that the Safety Convention extends, not being a territory to which it has been so declared that that Convention has ceased to extend;

“ declaration of survey ” means a declaration made under section 272 of the Principal Act;

“ international voyage ” means a voyage from a port in one country to a port in another country, either of those countries being a country to which the Safety Convention applies, and “ short international voyage ” means an international voyage—

(a)in the course of which a ship is not more than two hundred nautical miles from a port or place in which the passengers and crew could be placed in safety and

(b)which does not exceed six hundred nautical miles in length between the last port of call in the country in which the voyage begins and the final port of destination, but, for the purpose of the definitions contained in this paragraph—

(i)no account shall be taken of any deviation by a ship from her intended voyage due solely to stress of weather or any other circumstance that neither the master nor the owner nor the charterer (if any) of the ship could have prevented or forestalled; and

(ii)every colony, overseas territory, protectorate or other territory for whose international relations a government that has accepted the Safety Convention is responsible, or for which the United Nations are the administering authority, shall be deemed to be a separate country;

F1[…]

F2[“Irish ship”means a ship, other than a ship of war, known as such under section 9 of the Mercantile Marine Act 1955;

“master”, in relation to a ship, means the person having, for the time being, the command or charge of the ship;

“Merchant Shipping Acts”means Merchant Shipping Acts 1894 to 2010;

“Minister”means Minister for Transport;

“navigation and tracking rules”means rules made under section 18

“owner”, in relation to a ship, means the person registered in the State, as its owner or, if no person is so registered, the person who owns the ship, and includes any part owner, charterer, manager or operator of the ship]

“ the Principal Act ” means the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894;

“ radio navigational aid ” means radio apparatus on board a ship being apparatus designed for the purpose of determining the position or direction of ships or other objects;

“ radio rules ” means rules made under section 15 of this Act;

F3[…]

“ rules for live-saving appliances ” means rules made under section 427 of the Principal Act as amended by section 11 of this Act;

F4["Safety Convention" means the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea signed in London on behalf of the Government on 1 November 1974, together with the Protocol to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea signed in London on behalf of the Government on 17 February 1978 and the Protocol to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea signed in London on behalf of the Government on 11 November 1988 and any amendments made to it up to and including those adopted by the 106th session of the Maritime Safety Committee of the International Maritime Organisation held between 2 and 11 November 2022 and which have entered into force in respect of the State pursuant to Article VIII of the Convention prior to the enactment of the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Accidents) Act 2025;]

“ Safety Convention ship ” means a ship registered in a country to which the Safety Convention applies and the expression “ Safety Convention passenger steamer ” shall be construed accordingly.

F5["surveyor of ships" means a person appointed under section 724 of the Principal Act to be a surveyor of ships for the purposes of that Act;]

(2)Except so far as the context otherwise requires, any reference in this Act to any other enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended, extended or applied by or under any other enactment including this Act.

(3)Except so far as the context otherwise requires, this Act shall be construed as one with the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1947, and, without prejudice to the generality of this provision, references in those Acts to the Merchant Shipping Acts shall be construed as including references to this Act.

(4)If any amendment of the Safety Convention comes into force, references in this Act to the Safety Convention shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as references to the Safety Convention as amended.

4. Countries to which Safety Convention applies.

(a)that the government of any country has accepted, or denounced, the Safety Convention; or

(b)that the Safety Convention extends, or has ceased to extend, to any territory,

may by order make a declaration to that effect.

5. Power of the Minister to prescribe fees.

(2)The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, at any time by order revoke or amend a fees order or an order made under this subsection.

6. Collection and disposal of fees.

(2)The Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of any fees payable under a fees order.

7. Laying of orders, rules and regulations before Oireachtas.

8. Repeals.

9. Transitional provisions.

PART II. Safety of Life at Sea.

10. Construction rules.

F7[10. —(1) The Minister may make rules ("construction rules") prescribing the—

(a) requirements that the hull, superstructure, subdivision and stability, electrical installations, equipment and machinery of and fuel used in passenger steamers registered in the State, or other passenger steamers while in the territorial seas or elsewhere in the State, must comply with, and

(b) requiring such steamers to be surveyed to such extent and in such manner and at such intervals, as may be prescribed.

(2) In making construction rules the Minister may categorise passenger steamers into different classes, where appropriate, having regard to one or more of the following:

(a) the size, shape, speed or configuration of such steamers;

(b) the service for which such steamers are to be employed;

(c) the nature and duration of voyages to be undertaken;

(d) the number of passengers or other persons, or both, that such steamers are designed to carry on board;

(e) such other matter or matters that the Minister considers appropriate to take into account in the circumstances;

(f) the type of cargo carried, including dangerous goods;

(g) the age and date of construction of steamers.

(3) Different construction rules may be made in respect of different classes of passenger steamers and in relation to different classes of passenger steamers for different circumstances and for different areas of operation.

(4) Construction rules shall include such requirements as appear to the Minister to be necessary to implement the provisions of the Safety Convention prescribing the requirements that the hull, superstructure, subdivision and stability, electrical installations, equipment and machinery of and fuel used in passenger steamers must comply with, except so far as those provisions are implemented by rules for life-saving appliances, radio rules, navigation and tracking rules, collision regulations or fire protection rules.

(5) Construction rules may require the provision in ships to which this section applies—

(a) of plans exhibited as provided by or under the rules, and of other information, relating to the boundaries of watertight compartments, the openings in them, the means of closing such openings and the arrangements for correcting any list due to flooding, and

(b) of information necessary for the guidance of the master in maintaining sufficient stability to enable the ship to withstand damage.

(6) Any survey carried out on a steamer to which this section applies in accordance with rules made under subsection (1)(b) is a survey for the purpose of sections 271(1) and 272 of the Principal Act.

(7) The powers conferred on the Minister by this section are in addition to the powers conferred by any other enactment enabling him or her to prescribe the requirements that passenger steamers must comply with.

(8) In this section, other than subsection (1)(b) "passenger steamer" includes a "passenger ship" within the meaning of section 2(1) of the Act of 1992.]

11. Rules for life-saving appliances.

12. Amendment of section 430 of Principal Act.

13. Amendment of Principal Act.

14. Amendment of section 9 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1906.

15. Radio rules.

F12[ 15. —(1)The Minister, after consultation with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, may make rules ("radio rules" ) requiring—

(a) ships to which this section applies to be provided with a radio installation, other than a radio navigational aid, of such a nature as may be prescribed by the rules,

(b) to maintain such a radio service and to carry such number of persons, of such grades and possessing such qualifications, as may be prescribed, and

(c) such ships to be surveyed to such extent and in such manner and at such intervals, as may be prescribed.

(2) Radio rules may contain provisions for preventing so far as practicable electrical interference with the radio installation by other apparatus on board.

(3) Any survey carried out on a ship to which this section applies in accordance with rules made under subsection (1)(c) is a survey for the purposes of section 271(1) and 272 (as applied by section 27(2) of the Act of 1952 and section 3(4) of the Act of 1966) of the Principal Act.

(4) This section applies to all ships registered in the State and to other sea-going ships while they are within any port in the State.

(5) In making radio rules the Minister may categorise ships into different classes, where appropriate, having regard to one or more of the following:

(a) the service for which such ships are to be employed;

(b) the nature and duration of voyages to be undertaken;

(c) the number of passengers or other persons, or both, that such ships are designed to carry on board;

(d) such other matter or matters that the Minister considers appropriate to take into account in the circumstances.

(6) Different radio rules may be made in respect of different classes of ships and in relation to different classes of ships for different circumstances and different areas of operation.

(7) Radio rules shall include such requirements as appear to the Minister to be necessary to implement the provisions of the Safety Convention relating to radiocommunications.

(8) Radio rules may prescribe requirements for such portable radio apparatus as boats, survival craft or life-rafts may be required to carry by the rules for life-saving appliances.

(9) Without prejudice to the generality of the preceding provisions of this section, radio rules may—

(a) prescribe the duties of radio personnel, including the duty of keeping a radio log-book;

(b) apply to any radio log-book required to be kept under the rules any of the provisions of section 242 of the Principal Act (which provides for the delivery of the official log-book to the superintendent) and of section 256 of that Act (which provides among other things for the custody of the official log-book);

(c) require the master of a ship to cause to be entered in the official log-book such particulars relating to the operation of the radio installation, and the maintenance of the radio service, as may be specified in the rules;

(d) require the notification to the Minister of such details as the Minister may require in relation to radio installations.

(10) If the master of a ship fails to cause an entry to be made in the log-book of the ship in contravention of rules made under paragraph (c), or if any person contravenes any rules made under paragraph (a), of subsection (9), he or she commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €1,000.

(11) If radio rules are contravened in any other respect in relation to any ship, the owner or master of the ship commits an offence and is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding €5,000, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €100,000.

(12) A surveyor of ships may board and inspect—

(a) any ship, for the purpose of seeing that it is properly provided with a radio installation and radio personnel, and

(b) any boat or life-raft on board the ship, for the purposes of seeing that it carries the required portable radio apparatus, in conformity with radio rules.

(13) If a surveyor of ships in making an inspection under subsection (12) finds that—

(a) the ship is not provided with radio installation or personnel, or

(b) a boat, survival craft or life-raft on board does not carry portable radio apparatus, in conformity with radio rules he or she shall give to the owner or master notice in writing pointing out the deficiency.

(14) A surveyor of ships may board and inspect any ship for the purposes of seeing that a deficiency has been remedied in accordance with a notice under subsection (13).

(15) A surveyor of ships may for the purposes of an inspection make such tests (either on the ship or ashore or at dock) ask such questions, inspect such documents or records and have access to such installation or other apparatus as he or she considers appropriate for that purpose.

(16) If a ship, in respect of which a notice has been given to its owner or master under subsection (13) which requires the deficiency to be remedied before the ship proceeds to sea, proceeds or attempts to proceed to sea without the deficiency being remedied as required in the notice, then the master or owner (as the case may be) commits an offence and is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding €5,000, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €100,000.]

16. Radio surveyors.

(2)The functions of the Minister under the said section 724 with respect to surveyors of ships shall not be exercised with respect to radio surveyors except with the approval of the F13[Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources].

(3)Wireless telegraphy surveyors appointed under section 724 of the Principal Act as amended by section 8 of the Act of 1933 shall be radio surveyors.

17. Survey of passenger steamers by radio surveyors.