Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One point that may be of assistance to Deputy Pringle is that an area I considered in response to his question was that of certificates of training that some other countries might deliver to their fishermen that do not meet the IMO template. I understand that in the United Kingdom there are some certificates and types of training that do not conform to that template in the way our own certificates do. This is something that the House of Commons transport committee has investigated, and it published a report in March last. The committee recommended that something that should be looked at is converging their training in those areas with the IMO needs to which I referred earlier. We are determined to ensure that any training we conduct or any new training that might be provided would continue to meet the needs of the IMO, because by meeting that need we can ensure that the qualifications are recognised by everybody. I suspect that might be a desire the Deputy would share, because he wants to get further employment opportunities for those on whose behalf he raises this. I will get more detail on the particular point the Deputy has raised with me in a meeting.

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