'Asgard II': insured for €3.8mINSURERS FOR the Asgard II have travelled to France to undertake their own report into the vessel's sinking in the Bay of Biscay.
The training ship was guaranteed for €3.8 million, according to the Department of Defence, and no decision will be taken on salvage or possible rebuild before a full insurance assessment and report is completed.
The vessel is believed to be lying in 90 metres of water, some 32 kilometres off the French coast, having sunk early on Thursday morning.
All 25 crew were rescued by French lifeboats and taken to Belle-Ile, before being flown home yesterday.
A separate investigation on the circumstances that led to the sinking is also being conducted by the State's Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB), in co-operation with its French counterparts.
The MCIB has appointed an investigator to work with the French authorities, and the report of this inquiry is expected to take at least nine months.
Capt Colm Newport, who managed the evacuation of 20 trainees with his four permanent crew, said he had no idea of the cause.
The 27-year-old brigantine was en route from Falmouth in Cornwall to La Rochelle in France for a maritime festival, which the Naval Service patrol ship, LE Niamh, has also been invited to.
The sail training ship was also due to undergo some maintenance in La Rochelle, as part of a regular maintenance schedule funded by the Department of Defence.
Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea has said that if it is not possible to salvage the ship, it may be "recreated" - subject to the boat building skills being available.
An Taisce Galway branch spokesman Derrick Hambleton proposed yesterday that the Government should replace the ship, with part-funding by the promoters of the Irish leg of the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race.
Skills used in the construction of the replica ships, Dunbrody and Jeanie Johnston, could be availed of, he said. Asgard II, which was launched in Arklow in 1981, has taken on thousands of trainees during its 27 years of service.
