The Marine Casualty Investigation Board will inquire into the death of a Mayo teenager in a jet-ski accident last weekend.
The inquiry will be one of several into such accidents, including a non-fatal incident in Roscommon last month when security guards with President Mary McAleese helped in the rescue.
Alan Joyce (19), Ranaghy, Islandeady, Castlebar, was a passenger on a jet-ski which sank on Beltra lake on Sunday. He is thought to have been knocked unconscious when he hit the water, and his body was not recovered until the next day. The driver managed to reach the shore.
Irish Water Safety sympathised with Mr Joyce's family, and noted the rise in reports of accidents involving jet-skis, which are not subject to licensing.
Jet-skis are "potentially the most lethal craft currently on Irish waters", according to Lieut-Cdr John Leech, IWS chief executive.
Under safety legislation passed by former marine minister Frank Fahey in July 2001, under-16s were banned from using jet-skis, and were also compelled to wear lifejackets on pleasure craft. The Marine Safety Act obliges users of leisure craft up to 7m in length to wear lifejackets or personal flotation devices.
But the Act did not include an MCIB recommendation that jet-ski users should also wear appropriate protective headgear.
The MCIB recommendation was published as part of its inquiry into a collision between a jet-ski and a speedboat in Youghal, Co Cork, in August 2003, in which Patrick Daly (15) of Youghal died. Lieut-Cdr Leech said jet-skis had "an acceleration equivalent to a Porsche", yet there was no mandatory training to operate such a craft.
