Irish Water Safety, which promotes water safety awareness, has said it wishes to remain separate from any one-stop-shop for water safety and marine matters being proposed by the Minister for the Marine, Mr Dermot Ahern.
Irish Water Safety (IWS) was set up as an independent statutory body by the Department of the Environment three years ago. Its role is to advise on water safety awareness, including marine safety. Its objective is to prevent accidents in water and it is involved in teaching swimming and life-saving and it oversees standards for life guards and inshore rescue services.
The IWS also carries out risk assessment of bathing areas.
It emerged last week that a new independent agency along the lines of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Health and Safety Authority, with full statutory powers, is to be set up by Mr Ahern. This new agency will bring together safety services provided by the Coast Guard and the Maritime Safety Directorate in particular.
The new agency is to be concerned with safety promotion as well as new enforcement capabilities of rules and regulations, it is proposed.
However, Mr Roger Sweeney of IWS said "you can't legislate with one hand, and educate and promote with the other".
The IWS had not been approached about the new agency or how it might affect the IWS, he said. Mr Sweeney said the IWS would not wish to be "subsumed" under another organisation.
The experience of other countries such as the UK was that safety promotion worked best and there were fewer drownings where the promotional agency was separate from the enforcement arm such as the Coast Guard, Mr Sweeney said.