Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 51: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the measures he is taking and the measures he proposes to take to ensure that the fundamental rights of seafaring employees are upheld on vessels flagged nationally or otherwise that sail in Irish waters. [18800/07]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The wages and conditions of employment of workers on board vessels registered under the Irish flag are governed by a comprehensive corpus of employment rights legislation.

The wages and conditions of employment of workers on board vessels registered in other States are governed by the flag State's legislation and neither I nor the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment have any responsibilities in these matters.

I understand, however, that non-Irish registered vessels are subject to Port State Control (PSC) inspections in Ireland under the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)/EU Directive 95/21/EC. PSC inspections, which are undertaken by Marine Surveyors of the Department of Transport and the Marine, include, amongst other items, inspection of the vessels living and working conditions as regulated under the current International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions and in this case ILO 147/ILO 180, which Ireland has ratified.

At a national level Ireland has consistently supported the International Labour Organisation in its efforts to promote decent global labour standards for seafarers. A new consolidated Maritime Labour Convention was adopted in February 2006 at the 94th International Labour Conference in Geneva. Ireland was represented at the 94th Conference by a tripartite delegation consisting of government officials, nominees of the employers (IBEC) and of the workers (ICTU). The new Convention sets out clear principles and rights for seafarers. Ireland fully supports the new Convention and voted in favour of the proposal.