Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The scheme will be operated by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Where my interest lies is in terms of the operation of the National Minimum Wage Act. Under the scheme non-EEA workers, having gone through a system and a process in terms of a contract where a fishing vessel licence owner will have to go through a solicitor and a general contract is developed to govern the whole scheme, would be protected under employment legislation because there is a basic requirement to pay non-EEA workers the national minimum wage. Therefore, they come under the suite of employment rights legislation that applies to everybody in the State. That is a recognition of the need for the industry to change and the way in which migrant workers from non-EEA states are treated in the context of the Irish fishing industry.

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