Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Pending reflagging approval, Irish employment laws will continue to be enforced and at all times Irish safety laws will continue to apply to all vessels using Irish ports, wherever they are flagged. Once the vessel is reflagged it is clearly a matter of international law, as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, that the terms and conditions of employed seafarers on such vessels need to be decided exclusively by the flag state. It is crystal clear that we cannot prevent the reflagging that occurs as an integral part of exercising a right of establishment in another member state.

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