Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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147. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of prosecutions that have been brought against fishing vessel owners to date by the Marine Survey Office for breaches of SI 709/2003 or SI 672/2019 governing the maximum number of daily and weekly hours of work at sea and the minimum hours rest and minimum breaks at sea; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44825/22]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Following the transposition of EU Directive 2017 of 159 the existing regulations for working time on board fishing vessel SI 709 of 2003 has been revoked and replaced with a comprehensive suite of three new regulations for the full spectrum of employment arrangements and for flag state and port state control of fishing vessels in Irish port. This new set of regulations consists of regulations S.I. No. 672/2019 - European Union (International Labour Organisation Work in Fishing Convention) (Working Hours) Regulations 2019 which are for Irish fishing vessels where at least one fisher on-board is engaged in a contract of employment. There is an additional set of regulations for share fishers S.I. No. 585/2020 - European Union (Workers on Board Seagoing Fishing Vessels) (Organisation of Working Time) (Share Fishermen) Regulations 2020 and these apply hours of work and rest requirements to fishers working on Irish fishing vessels where all fishers are share fishers. The final set of regulations is S.I. No. 441/2020 - European Union (Workers on Board Seagoing Fishing Vessels) (Organisation of Working Time) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 which applies the hours of work and rest to fishing vessels flying the flag of another member state when in a port in the state.

The Marine Survey Office (MSO) of my Department carries out survey and inspections of fishing vessels for compliance with safety, environment and fisher living and working conditions. The Irish fleets consists of approximately 2000 fishing vessels and some 6,500 fishers. All fishing vessels are subject to a survey and certification regime managed by the MSO. All vessels are subject to a survey every four years and issued with a certificate if found compliant with the requirements. The surveys cover all aspects including crew qualifications, living and working arrangements including hours of work and rest. The MSO carries out its role for all Irish vessels in Ireland and anywhere in the world as well as for all persons on-board irrespective of their nationality, employment status or immigration status. Furthermore, the MSO carries out inspection of foreign flagged fishing vessels when in Irish ports.

The MSO adopts a graduated approach to the rectification of such anomalies and initially seeks that the owner or skipper brings the vessel into compliance. Further action could be to detain the vessel until the issue has been rectified. In a limited number of cases the MSO may initiate a prosecution. The enforcement of the MSO requirements is effective as the licence to fish which is issued by the Sea Fish Licensing Administration of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is based on the vessel complying with the relevant safety regime that is in place for each sector. On this basis the MSO carries out or oversees 500 such surveys and inspections each year and since 2017 has initiated 11 prosecutions where hours of work and rest was amongst a number of issues.