Dáil debates

Wednesday, 20 January 2016

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions

Employment Rights

9:40 am

Photo of Paul MurphyPaul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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3. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on undocumented non-European Union crew members in the Irish fishing industry; and his actions to assist these workers and to improve compliance with workers' rights legislation in the industry. [2145/16]

Photo of Paul MurphyPaul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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I ask again about the gross exploitation of undocumented migrant workers in the fishing industry and what action the Government is taking to ensure that such exploitation does not recur. I also remind the Minister of his statement when this matter was raised in the Dáil under the impact of the International Transport Workers Federation, ITF, by Deputy Higgins that this was a mere contention.

9:50 am

Photo of Gerald NashGerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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Concerns about exploitation of vulnerable migrant workers in this sector are global in nature. In order to address the complex array of issues facing the State in monitoring compliance with workplace legislation in the fishing industry, the Government established a task force on allegations regarding treatment of workers on Irish fishing trawlers, which was chaired by my colleague the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney. Arising out of the conclusion of the task force’s work in November last, we have developed a scheme in Ireland to assist such workers. I welcome the agreement reached by members of the task force, which saw all Government and State agencies involved in the sector coming together to come up with a solution. This cross-departmental approach makes the scheme robust and fair, as well as helping to reduce the potential for migrant workers in this sector to be abused by unscrupulous employers. The new atypical employment scheme provides that non-EEA nationals will enter into a new employment relationship with an employer in the State, as opposed to being share fishermen, which has been the predominant model in the sector. As such, they will be guaranteed all appropriate employment rights and protections during their period of employment and the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, will have a remit in respect of compliance with employment rights legislation and enforcing these workers’ rights. Enforcement of legislation relating to the rest periods and maximum working time of seafarers and fishing vessel crews will continue to be under the remit of the marine surveyors of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. The Health and Safety Authority as part of its broader national remit also undertakes inspections of fishing vessels as these are defined as workplaces under health and safety legislation.

Complementary to the new scheme, the powers of the inspection service of the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, have been broadened under the recently enacted Workplace Relations Act to empower WRC inspectors to board vessels to enforce the full suite of employment rights legislation for non-EEA workers who will be employees under this scheme.

An essential part of the follow-up to the introduction of the new scheme is the Government’s stated intention to see a memorandum of understanding put in place by relevant State enforcement bodies to provide a rigorous and effective cross-agency inspection system. A subgroup of the relevant enforcement agencies, which I have chaired, has worked intensively in recent weeks to agree the terms of the memorandum to be put in place before the commencement of the new scheme. The memorandum will underpin a robust system of risk-based inspections, based on information sharing and joint inspections where appropriate. I expect the memorandum to be in place shortly, and in tandem with the new arrangements for non-EEA workers in the fishing industry.

Photo of Paul MurphyPaul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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I ask the Minister of State if the Government accepts - I quote from The Guardian- that African and Asian migrant workers were being routinely but illegally used as cheap labour on Irish fishing trawlers working out of some of the country's most popular tourist ports. If that is accepted - it is good that it accepts the facts - why did the Government not do something about it? Rather than just repeating our last engagement from a couple of months ago I want to ask some more questions on the permit scheme. Were any representations made by fishing employer organisations to increase the number of permits from 500 to a higher number? Also, would the Minister of State agree that it is quite problematic to have the permits tied in to an employer? It obviously restricts the freedom and the relative power of the worker in the circumstance relative to the employer and the fishing industry.

Photo of Gerald NashGerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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The scheme will be operated by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Where my interest lies is in terms of the operation of the National Minimum Wage Act. Under the scheme non-EEA workers, having gone through a system and a process in terms of a contract where a fishing vessel licence owner will have to go through a solicitor and a general contract is developed to govern the whole scheme, would be protected under employment legislation because there is a basic requirement to pay non-EEA workers the national minimum wage. Therefore, they come under the suite of employment rights legislation that applies to everybody in the State. That is a recognition of the need for the industry to change and the way in which migrant workers from non-EEA states are treated in the context of the Irish fishing industry.

Photo of Michael KittMichael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State.

Photo of Gerald NashGerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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In terms of whether fishing industry representatives have sought additional permits that is not information that I hold. The scheme is operated by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Photo of Paul MurphyPaul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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So there have been reports that fishing industry representatives have sought to increase the number of permits from 500 to 1,000. I do not know whether they have made representations to the relevant Minister. It seems to me that is in contradiction to the initial response to the fishing industry representatives which was to be extremely dismissive, a bit like the Government at that stage saying that this was not really happening and, therefore, it would not make sense to call for an increase in the number of permits. I wish to ask the Minister of State two questions which relate to workers' rights. I welcome the fact that they will be covered under employment legislation. First, will he agree that it is wrong for the permit to be tied to a particular employer as it makes it difficult for an employee to whistleblow on an employer, to speak out about their conditions, because of the threat that they will lose the permit and lose the right to stay in the country? Second, will he agree that all those who are in Ireland should be offered an amnesty in terms of migration in order to encourage people to speak out about their conditions?

Photo of Gerald NashGerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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We are in a much better situation now. I reject any claims that the Government was less than swift to respond to reports as outlined in The Guardian. We acted very quickly to put the new system in place. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, and I acted very quickly to put the new system in place to deal with this very difficult situation. It is useful to take a step back and consider what type of changes will be introduced. We have a new system of atypical work commission to be put in place for non-EEA workers for the first time. The scheme will provide that during the first three months, after its commencement, permissions will be limited to those non-EEA workers already operating on Irish fishing vessels. That is an opportunity for those who are here at the moment to regularise their situation. Cross sectoral pre-clearance systems ensuring a comprehensive, legally binding contract of employment will be put in place. Anybody who has concerns about how they are treated in the workplace has the same protections as everybody else in this country in terms of making complaints through the usual channels-----

Photo of Michael KittMichael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State.

Photo of Gerald NashGerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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-----channels we have legislated to improve in recent times. The full suite of employment legislation is available to protect people who will be operating this particular scheme.