James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the important matter of the atypical working scheme. I know the fishing industry and community is hugely important to the Deputy and he has raised this matter with me on a number of occasions. I have always been struck by his compassion for the industry, the fishermen, the employees and the communities.

As a result of the Deputy and other Deputies raising this important issue, I have had discussions with the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy English, and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue. The Deputy will be aware that in 2015 the Government established an interdepartmental task force with the objective of formulating a co-ordinated and effective cross-government response to the issues raised on the employment of undocumented non-EEA crew members in the Irish fishing fleet. It was highlighted at the time by The Guardian.

The culmination of the work was the development of a new sector-specific scheme that involved putting in place detailed contracts between the vessel owners and non-EEA nationals with a series of built-in protections and obligations. This was the atypical working scheme which, at the time, was welcomed as an immediate solution to the risk of exploitation and to guarantee employment rights and protections to non-EEA fishers availing of the scheme while ensuring fisher employers were able to recruit staff. It set down minimum terms and conditions of employment applicable to non-EEA fishers which are in line with the general statutory terms and conditions of workers more generally in the State.

A memorandum of understanding for the monitoring and enforcement of the scheme was put in place between all relevant parties to ensure that the various bodies with oversight of the sector were part of the solution. The scheme applies to crew members working on licensed and registered fishing vessels in the polyvalent, beamer and specific segments of the Irish fishing fleet for vessels of more than 15 m in length overall and who are not currently eligible for an employment permit issued by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Permission holders under the scheme can make a request to change to a different employer licensed under the scheme at any time during their permission. They do not need to leave the State in order to do this. The scheme requires that the new crew member be provided with a copy of their contract of employment in both English and in their native language by their employer. However, the scheme is now more than five years old. It was brought in as a response to issues highlighted at the time but a review is timely.

As I said, I have recently discussed the matter with my colleagues, the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and the Minister of State, Deputy English, and we have agreed to carry out a review of the scheme. Officials from the three Departments met last week. They are working closely together and will meet again soon to carry the review work forward, agree the terms of the review and look at important issues around the effectiveness of the existing scheme, whether the enforcement is working, whether the scheme has run its course and whether the sector should move to a permit scheme, similar to other sectors.

See this speech in context