Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. Ms McGinley appeared before the committee last May and made a presentation on open-ended hours, during which she alluded to this issue. I am delighted she is here. I have been a member of the committee for a year and Mr. Fleming's presentation was the most powerful I have heard so far. He got the message across clearly. I was aware of the issue on our ships from speaking to my colleague. I agree with many of the comments made. We must invite representatives from the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, to appear before the committee as soon as possible. We must ensure enforcement is part of the project in the future, and if we carry out a review of it, it should be a short-term review in order that we can get this to work. Technically, five Departments could be in charge of this, but I do not wish to be here 20 years hence - I hope I will be alive 20 years hence - listening to how we did not solve this problem. The least we should be able to say is that this committee did its best to come up with a solution. We will work together on it. Many of us have been shocked by the powerful presentation Mr. Fleming made. I appreciate it. I do not wish to be political about it but if the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, has not responded, that message must be conveyed as well. He must respond and meet the witnesses on the issue. As the other members of the committee said, we must invite the stakeholders to appear before the committee as soon as possible. We should prioritise that for the next meeting, if possible.