Mr. Michael O'Brien:

Yes. The fishers have a high threshold for abuses, I am sorry to say. For the Egyptians, there is unfortunately a mythology within the sector that if they do the five years within the scheme that they have a clear path to a stamp 4, which unfortunately is not the case. Many of them are led to believe it is, so they will put up with those abuses at the hands of individual employers. For the Filipinos and Ghanaians, even the pittance they are paid counts for a lot when they send much of it back home and consequently, they will put up with it, albeit at great risk to themselves. It is true the fishing sector is a small one relative to the overall size of the workforce in this country but the dangers posed to fishers are very acute. You are talking about back injuries, loss of digits, premature aging and the wear and tear of doing it. It is a young person's job but some of the fishers out there are in their 40s and 50s and frankly, they look like old men. They need to be able to move on to do other work and they have earned their right to do so. People in this country have made enormous sums of money out of these individuals' labour and to be frank, they deserve a break from the State.