Ms Oonagh Buckley:

I do not want my comments to be misinterpreted. What I said with regard to the number of non-EEA workers is that there have been a number of guesses about the numbers.

The only facts we have are the ones that have been found in inspections, including by the Naval Service, the vast majority of whom, in fact, had permission to work in Ireland. They were either on the atypical scheme or they had permission under general employment permit law. We have found 29 without permission to work. Those are the actually figures.

There were estimates done which vary widely. As to whether they are accurate, they are an estimate, at best probably a guesstimate. I am not telling the Senator that there are 300, 350, or 1,250 undocumented non-EEA workers out in the fishing fleet because, frankly, that is not information that I have.