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€245,000 compensation for Donegal
family
02.05.18
OMBUDSMAN Peter Tyndall
today welcomed Minister Michael Creed’s announcement
that he will implement an Ombudsman recommendation
that a Donegal family receive compensation of
€245,570. The announcement follows an initial
refusal in 2009 by the then Department of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to implement the
recommendation.
The Ombudsman’s recommendation came after the
Department refused the family’s application under
the state’s Lost At Sea scheme. The application
followed a fishing tragedy in which five people lost
their lives, including the family’s father and his
son.
The Lost At Sea scheme had been set up in 2001 for
those who had lost a vessel at sea between 1980 and
1989. Successful applicants were made an award of
‘capacity’ so that a new vessel could be registered
and licensed as a fishing boat.
In 1981 Mr Francis Byrne, the owner and skipper of a
fishing vessel, along with his 16 year old son Jimmy
and three other men died tragically when their boat
sank off the coast of Donegal. The Byrne family’s
application under the scheme was refused and they
complained to the Ombudsman. The then Ombudsman,
Emily O’Reilly, found that the design of the scheme
and the way in which it was advertised were contrary
to fair and sound administration. Her investigation
involved a single complaint and recommended that the
family receive compensation of €245,570.
The Department refused to implement the Ombudsman’s
recommendation – the first and only time in the 34
year history of the Office that an investigation
recommendation has not been implemented. Current
Ombudsman Peter Tyndall continued to highlight the
case following his appointment in 2013.
Welcoming yesterday's announcement the Ombudsman
said:
“This was a heartbreaking tragedy for the Byrne
family and the families of the other men who died.
The family have had to pursue this case for over
fifteen years. I am pleased that Minister Creed has
now implemented this recommendation and has righted
a wrong that was done to the family so many years
ago.”
The full report of the Ombudsman’s investigation is
available on the Ombudsman’s website:
www.ombudsman.ie . |
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