Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Concerns about exploitation of vulnerable migrant workers in this sector are global in nature. In order to address the complex array of issues facing the State in monitoring compliance with workplace legislation in the fishing industry, the Government established a task force on allegations regarding treatment of workers on Irish fishing trawlers, which was chaired by my colleague the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney. Arising out of the conclusion of the task force’s work in November last, we have developed a scheme in Ireland to assist such workers. I welcome the agreement reached by members of the task force, which saw all Government and State agencies involved in the sector coming together to come up with a solution. This cross-departmental approach makes the scheme robust and fair, as well as helping to reduce the potential for migrant workers in this sector to be abused by unscrupulous employers. The new atypical employment scheme provides that non-EEA nationals will enter into a new employment relationship with an employer in the State, as opposed to being share fishermen, which has been the predominant model in the sector. As such, they will be guaranteed all appropriate employment rights and protections during their period of employment and the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, will have a remit in respect of compliance with employment rights legislation and enforcing these workers’ rights. Enforcement of legislation relating to the rest periods and maximum working time of seafarers and fishing vessel crews will continue to be under the remit of the marine surveyors of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. The Health and Safety Authority as part of its broader national remit also undertakes inspections of fishing vessels as these are defined as workplaces under health and safety legislation.

Complementary to the new scheme, the powers of the inspection service of the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, have been broadened under the recently enacted Workplace Relations Act to empower WRC inspectors to board vessels to enforce the full suite of employment rights legislation for non-EEA workers who will be employees under this scheme.

An essential part of the follow-up to the introduction of the new scheme is the Government’s stated intention to see a memorandum of understanding put in place by relevant State enforcement bodies to provide a rigorous and effective cross-agency inspection system. A subgroup of the relevant enforcement agencies, which I have chaired, has worked intensively in recent weeks to agree the terms of the memorandum to be put in place before the commencement of the new scheme. The memorandum will underpin a robust system of risk-based inspections, based on information sharing and joint inspections where appropriate. I expect the memorandum to be in place shortly, and in tandem with the new arrangements for non-EEA workers in the fishing industry.

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