With one loud belt of a bottle, Europe's quietest marine research ship, the €31 million RV Celtic Explorer was commissioned in Galway docks yesterday, writes Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent.
Neither the Taoiseach, who promised it, nor the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, who wrote the cheque, were there for the champagne. However, the fact that the ship was built on budget would surely please Mr McCreevy, the Minister for Marine, Mr Ahern, noted at yesterday's function.
Whether financial targets were still being met after the celebrations were over, few knew; but almost 1,000 people streamed into the marquee erected on the docks, including the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuiv, a former marine minister, Dr Michael Woods, and the Connacht-Ulster MEP, Mr Seán Ó Neachtain.
The vessel was proof that Ireland had the confidence, drive and money to keep ahead of the posse, the Minister said.
The 210ft vessel is built for deep-sea research and will be able to work right out to the limits of Ireland's marine territory which, at 220 million acres, is more than 10 times the land mass.
Hitherto, the existing research ship, Celtic Voyager, has only been able to work within 20 per cent of that territory, the Marine Institute's chief executive, Dr Peter Heffernan, pointed out.
The ship will be able to stay at sea for up to 45 days and can accommodate 31 crew and scientists. One of its first tasks will be to deploy a new weather buoy off the Donegal coast, the fourth in a network which will supply hourly information updates on weather and sea conditions to Met Éireann.
After that, it will work on the National Seabed Survey from April to October and will then move on to a comprehensive 45-day groundfish survey of the Continental Shelf area, between 15 and 500 metres, in the Irish Sea, Celtic Sea and off the west coast.
This survey will link up with the Scottish and French research vessels, RV Scotia and RV Thalassa, to give an overview of the state and distribution of fish stocks extending from the Bay of Biscay to the Shetlands.
The survey results will be used in international stock assessment and monitoring the state of the ocean ecosystem.
Fishing industry representatives have welcomed the vessel, although one skipper at yesterday's function remarked that the ship would spend most of its time finding more fish for the Spaniards to catch.
Dr Heffernan paid a special tribute to Dr Ray Keary of the Geological Survey of Ireland who had drawn that "first real map" of Ireland and its seabed territory.
The ship will be open to the public on Galway docks today and tomorrow from noon to 6 p.m.
