Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to move on because of the shortage of time. My second question relates to a commitment given by the Minister of State, Deputy English, earlier this year to deal with the fact that fishers cannot currently take cases under Part 2 of the Organisation of Working Time Act. There have been some chilling cases on the exploitation of fishers. One of them, put up yesterday on the Workplace Relations Commission's website, concerns a fisher called Jose Pame Salandron. He was awarded just under €14,000 because he was made work 80 or 90 hours per week on a boat. This is all documented, but, because of the gap in legislation, most of the award from the Labour Court was actually taken off. The good news is that, as far back as 2019, the Government made an agreement with the International Transport Workers' Federation, ITF, that it would introduce simple amending legislation to allow fishers to take cases. However, nothing has been done since. The Minister of State, Deputy English, said earlier this year that we would have legislation by springtime, but it still has not been seen. I would like a clear commitment and timeline for the legislation.

On two occasions at meetings of this committee, we have had powerful presentations by representatives of the ITF detailing the shocking, exploitative abuse of fishers – the most horrendous kind of abuse. The case I have cited is a case in point. I am referring to working weeks of 70, 80 or 90 hours. I understand there may well be a case taken against this State seeking Francovich damages in regard to that, but I cannot understand why, three and half years after an agreement with the ITF, simple legislation has still not been brought forward by the Department. I would welcome a positive response from the Minister and a timeline as to when this issue will be dealt with to protect some of the most vulnerable migrant workers in the State.