Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. The Joint Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation produced a report last December on the situation of non-EEA crew in the Irish fishing fleet under the atypical working scheme. It is important to note the report had the unanimous support of all committee members. We were all very concerned by incidents of abuse of workers in this sector. This abuse involved breaches of the National Minimum Wage Act, the Organisation of Working Time Act, the Terms of Employment (Information) Act and the Payment of Wages Act. The issues highlighted included: withholding of pay; arbitrary cuts to rates of pay; forced unpaid labour on repairs at port; rates of pay below the legal minimum; restrictions on movement because of one's status as an undocumented worker; inability to avail of public healthcare services because of one's status as an undocumented worker; sleep deprivation; verbal and physical abuse; dangerous working practices; working without mandatory Irish safety training certificates; workers left hungry; cramped living conditions; and poor sanitary arrangements.

Since the report was published things have gotten significantly worse. Last Thursday, the International Transport Workers' Federation confirmed that 12 possible cases of human trafficking have been identified in the industry. The Government is now facing legal proceedings unless it pauses the atypical working scheme. Seven of the 12 cases have been positively identified as suspected victims of trafficking in human beings, with five referrals still under investigation by the Garda National Protective Services Bureau.

The number of potential victims identified equates to one in ten of the permits issued over the past 18 months. The Department of Justice and Equality, in its statement, plays pass the parcel on this issue citing the Workplace Relations Commission and the marine survey office as the relevant authorities. It is worth repeating that. When faced with the most serious potential charges of human trafficking, the Department of Justice and Equality has said it has nothing to do with it and has passed the buck to the Minister of State's Department.

Will the Minister of State tell us what he intends to do regarding the recommendations in this report? The Department has had six months to consider the report and is now aware of the most serious charges of human trafficking in the industry. The Minister of State will know that the figure quoted by our Naval Service clearly shows there is a problem in the sector. There were 109 workers found working illegally on 86 boats. The key recommendation from our report is that one Government Department takes overall responsibility for the sector. We also call for a moratorium on the issuing of new permits until such time as all non-EEA nationals are regularised. We recommended a reconstituted task force be set up, including the International Transport Workers' Federation, in order to deal with the myriad problems in the scheme. We recommended a review of the marine survey office and a simplified and transparent permit process. Will the Minister of State tell me what he has done in the six months since receiving this report?