Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The report of the Government’s interdepartmental task force on Non-EEA workers in the fishing industry recommended the establishment of a sector-specific atypical worker permission system which would provide a structured and transparent framework for the employment of non-EEA workers within defined segments of the commercial sea-fishing fleet. This system is an extension of the existing atypical worker permission schemes administered by the Department of Justice and Equality through the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, INIS. The granting of permission to work in the State under the scheme is a matter for decision by the INIS.

My Department’s role in the Department of Justice and Equality scheme is limited solely to hosting a central depository, the specific purpose of which is to provide an Internet based system that facilitates applications for pre-approval under the atypical working scheme; process pre-approval applications received from applicants, certified by solicitors, who subsequently seek to apply to the INIS for an atypical working scheme, crew member, permit; issue a unique identifier for each eligible contract that meets the scheme criteria; communicate the unique identifier detail to the INIS; maintain a central depository of eligible contracts of employment; and monitor the ceiling of 500 pre-approvals in any 12-month period. The central depository does not retain information on the ports in which the applicant vessel owners are based or the number of fishing crew at each port. As of the week ending 8 July, the central depository had processed 159 contracts. The countries of origin of these 159 crew members are as follows: 83 are from Egypt; 57 are from the Philippines; nine are from Ghana; seven are from Indonesia; two are from Ukraine and one is from Sri Lanka. I have been informed by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service that it has granted atypical worker permission to 131 applicants.

I advise the Deputy that if he requires further information on the scheme to make direct contact with Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service.

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