Written answers

Tuesday, 25 January 2022

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Fishing Industry

Photo of Mick BarryMick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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162. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment when legislation will be introduced on foot of the agreement reached between his Department and the Department of Transport to give the Workplace Relations Commission jurisdiction to hear complaints of breaches of the Working Time at Sea Directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3446/22]

Photo of Damien EnglishDamien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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A Memorandum of Understanding on the monitoring and enforcement of the Atypical Worker Permission Scheme for non-EEA fishers employed on certain Irish-registered fishing vessels was signed by 11 Departments and Agencies in May 2016.

The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is one of a number of agencies which contributes to the enforcement of this scheme and has particular responsibility for checking compliance insofar as terms of employment, permission to work, payment of wages, annual leave, public holiday and National Minimum Wage entitlements are concerned.

Enforcing compliance with rest period and maximum working hours requirements in the fishing sector is the responsibility of authorised officers of the Department of Transport, i.e., Marine Surveyors.

However, as the Deputy rightly points out, a legislative amendment is required in order to provide the WRC with jurisdiction to hear complaints of breaches of the Working Time at Sea Directive.

My Department has engaged with the Department of Transport and agreement has been reached to submit a proposal to the Oireachtas to extend the WRC's jurisdiction in this matter. This proposal will be included as a miscellaneous amendment in a legislative instrument in the Spring.

Photo of Mick BarryMick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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163. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of inspections of fishing vessels that are eligible to employ non-EEA workers under the terms of the atypical work permit scheme that took place in 2021; the number of non-compliances that were detected; the category and penalties that resulted for the vessel owners in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3447/22]

Photo of Damien EnglishDamien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) contributes to multi-agency efforts to enforce the Atypical Worker Permission Scheme for Non-EEA Workers engaged on Irish-registered whitefish fishing vessels over 15 metres in length.

The WRC carried out 51 inspections in 2021 of fishing vessels that come within the scope of the Scheme. This included inspections undertaken by the WRC in September last year under Operation Pallas, which is the eighth such operation undertaken by the Commission since 2016. This brings to 497 the number of fisheries inspections which have now been undertaken by WRC Inspectors since the introduction of the Atypical Scheme.

50 contraventions of employment rights or employment permits legislation, relating to 20 vessel owners, were detected by WRC Inspectors in 2021. This brings to 365 the number of contraventions detected by WRC Inspectors since the introduction of the Atypical Scheme.

The WRC objective is to work with employers, in this case vessel owners, to achieve compliance. Fishing vessel owners who do not comply on a voluntary basis, following the issue of a Contravention Notice, will, depending on the legislation involved, be issued with a Compliance Notice or Fixed Payment Notice or face prosecution. Current policy provides for the initiation of prosecution proceedings in relation to the offence of employing a non-EEA national without a valid permission to work.

The current position in relation to the contraventions detected in 2021 is set out in 'Table 1' attached.

Table 1:50 contraventions detected in 2021

Status No.
Open-Contravention Notice Issued 11
Open-Final Notice Issued 2
Open-Prosecution Underway 1
Closed-Referred to another agency 11
Closed-resolved by Contravention Notice 25
Total: 50

Unpaid wages of over €13,000 arising from unauthorised deductions from pay and failure to pay the National Minimum Wage rate or to grant public holiday and/or annual leave entitlements were secured in the case of 11 of the 50 contraventions.

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