Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy knows the history of the EU manning directive. As a result of my meeting with David Begg, SIPTU and the Seamen's Union of Ireland I asked the European Commission about its intentions regarding the possible reintroduction of that directive. It may take some time but the clock must start ticking.

The Commission indicated it had no plans to introduce a similar directive. I will attend a marine transport meeting in Europe next week where I will speak with my colleagues and impress the need for this upon them. I took the opportunity when I was in the United Kingdom some weeks ago to discuss this issue with Mr. Ladyman, the Minister of State at the Department for Transport with responsibility for marine transport, because this will be a problem for the United Kingdom too.

As a result of my meeting with David Begg and the other representatives I considered entering into some form of tripartite agreement with the United Kingdom and the French authorities. The initial legal advice I received, however, indicates that organising such bilateral or trilateral agreements could be exceedingly complex, quite lengthy and may not help to resolve this problem.

The International Labour Organisation's consolidated maritime labour convention, which was mentioned at our meeting, unfortunately does not apply to rates of pay. In short, I support putting a new directive on the agenda and will take the initiative in consultation, even informally with the French and UK Ministers, next week. I have already flagged this with the UK Minister of State.

See this speech in context