Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

-----were carried out - if I could have a bit of quiet on my left - on foot of abuses reported by the ITF, as opposed to WRC inspectors. Unlike in other jurisdictions, however, union people have been frozen out of the follow-up process. The record of the WRC inspectorate in bringing successful prosecutions has been poor. There has only been one successful prosecution in an industry where, as the world and its wife know, abuses are rife. The €6,300 in unpaid wages that has been recouped for workers cheated out of their pay is a tiny fraction of the reality.

In July, the WRC told the Oireachtas joint committee that it was reducing the numbers devoted to the fishing industry. Has that happened? Given the scale of the instances mentioned, does the Minister see the case for a dedicated and trained inspectorate, not just for fishing, but for all maritime cases that arise?

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