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

That is one interpretation and I am not surprised it is the one the Deputy takes of it. There is another interpretation which is that while there is room for substantially more applications with the industry being entitled to apply for up to 500 atypical worker permits, the problem is not as widespread as might have appeared in the first instance. The 159 applications might suggest as much, although the Deputy might like to explore the matter further with the INIS. I remind the Deputy that the task force established to consider the matter consisted of representatives of the Departments of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Justice and Equality, Transport, Tourism and Sport, Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Social Protection, and Defence, the Workplace Relations Commission, the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, the Marine Survey Office, the Health and Safety Authority, the Revenue Commissioners, BIM, the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, the Naval Service, the Office of the Attorney General and An Garda Síochána. There is no anxiety on this side or among the State agencies to exploit workers of any origin unfairly in the fishing industry. We have put in place a system that allows workers to regularise their situation where they are within the industry but are not documented. The atypical worker permit gives them the rights any worker has in terms of entitlement to wages and contracts, etc. While I appreciate the slant the Deputy may wish to put on the 159 applications, it might also suggest that the problem is not as great as the Deputy at first anticipated.

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