Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support the comments of the Chair. I am quite taken aback that Mr. Boyle would come in and castigate this committee. It is made up of a wide range of parties and interests. I can say with my hand on my heart, particularly in respect of the Chair but also of all of us, that we always strive to work fairly and collegially and to get our work done. I do not think Mr. Boyle does himself or his industry any service by coming in with those remarks.

I would like to start with a couple of positives. I highlight Mr. O'Donnell's speech. His point about the permit scheme being altered to ensure that a worker does not "belong" to any particular employer is one we should heed. I welcome his comments. I also support what Senator James Reilly has said. Common sense suggests that boats under 15 m should be included in the scheme. Let us try to recognise that.

Overall, I must be frank in saying that I am very disappointed. There seems to be a large degree of denial from our guests today. The problem is that there is a large number of non-EEA, undocumented workers in the industry. I have huge respect for Ken Fleming, who is a trade unionist of high renown and a man of honour and integrity. We do not have to take his word for it, however. We can take the word of the MRCI, a body that has worked courageously with undocumented migrants for years. It is very clear about the abuses that unfortunately are going on within significant sectors of the industry. We will also hear from the Defence Forces later on this afternoon. I will cite their document. They inspected 63 Irish-registered fishing vessels and found 134 non-EEA crew members, of whom only 39 had the required letter of approval. Some 95 did not or, in other words, two thirds of the workers were working illegally. Are the witnesses seriously telling us that the Defence Forces are lying? If we are going to make progress on this issue, we need to acknowledge that there is a major problem with undocumented workers. We need to find a way of helping them to come back into the workforce legally. Can the witnesses explain to me why the Defence Forces found that two out of three non-EEA workers were working illegally on those 63 boats?