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

Since last year the International Transport Workers Federation has been trying, unsuccessfully, to obtain answers from BIM on behalf of migrant crew members who are unsure of their entitlements under this provision. For example if crew members served those minimum 90 days in 2020 and 2021 and perhaps years before but left the boat post-2021, are they included or excluded from a share in the compensation? If the boat has changed ownership at any stage while the crew member has remained on the vessel, is the latter owner liable to compensate the crew member for all of his or her service? If the crew member meets or exceeds the minimum requirement but was undocumented for some of the time on the vessel, is his or her full service reckonable? Hundreds of undocumented crew members have been granted permission at various points from 2016 to the present day. Are they to lose out to the benefit of the owner who engaged them on an undocumented basis? These questions have been sent to the Minister of State and forwarded to BIM at the start of the year. The response from BIM has not yet arrived. I am hoping we will have some answers today.

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