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

I too will be brief. I will raise the issue of migrant fishers. A review of the atypical scheme has been promised. This commitment coincided with, or possibly arose because of, recent research by Maynooth University's department of law, which catalogued ongoing abuses experienced by migrant fishers. Will the Taoiseach commit to meaningful consultation with the International Transport Workers Federation, ITWF, in the course of the review, given that it has committed personnel and resources to working with migrant fishers working on Irish flagged-vessels over the last decade and has presented their grievances to the Workplace Relations Commission and other State bodies? The ITWF has highlighted that the Department of Justice's impending scheme for the undocumented could be a means to regularise the status of the many currently undocumented fishers still operating on Irish vessels if the scheme is sufficiently inclusive. The broad parameters that have been announced include conditions that one has to be undocumented and working for four years. However, many currently undocumented fishers have been in Ireland for longer than four years but may not have had documents at some point within the last four years. Common sense dictates that they should be included and I am asking for a commitment that they will be.

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