Changes to the permit system for non-EEA fishing crew proposed by a Government review have been given a qualified welcome by the Irish branch of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).
ITF campaign lead for Ireland Michael O’Brien said a “major omission” of the report published by the Irish government on October 11th was the situation of some 250 plus undocumented fishers and former fishers.
He said the changes will be welcomed by just under 300 fishers currently enrolled in the existing A-typical working scheme, which has been the subject of much criticism.
A cross-departmental group of senior officials in relevant Irish departments and agencies will be established to oversee implementation of the transition to the proposed new permit system, equivalent to a “Stamp 4” immigration permission with its wider entitlements.
Michael O'Brien is the fisheries campaign lead at the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)
The ITF said it would “study the report in detail and play its role in briefing the migrant fishers of its implications”.
The proposed new scheme would ensure “a path will be open to all fishers currently enrolled in the Atypical Scheme to progress to a visa stamp 4, full labour market access and family reunification if desired,” O’Brien said.
“The ITF, working with our affiliates and the migrant fishers themselves, who are organised in the Migrant Fishers’ Network, will fully engage in this process to ensure the best available type of permit, pay and working conditions are obtained for the migrant fishers,” he said.
The situation of over 250 undocumented fishers and former fishers - many of whom spent years in the Atypical Scheme “before falling out of it through injury or acrimony with exploitative employers” – is a serious omission, he said.
"Our crews are the backbone of the traditional fishing activity"
“It is inconsistent to leave these fishers to continue working undocumented in the context of this review,” he said.
O’Brien also said the authors of the report had adopted what he described as “an unwarranted defensive tone in general on the performance of the Atypical Scheme over the last six and half years, and in particular on the question of human trafficking,” which the ITF has made “credible submissions” on.
The Irish Fish Producers Organisation (IFPO) said it “unequivocally supports the right of all non-EEA migrant fishers to fair treatment in the workplace”.
“Traditionally, many crew members on Irish fishing vessels are ‘share-fishers’ and, therefore, self-employed,” IFPO chief executive Aodh O’Donnell said.
IFPO chief executive Aodh O’Donnell
“ But whether crew members are employed or self-employed, they have the right to fair working conditions. We support the implementation of overdue legislation to protect migrant fishers and to grant them the full rights and entitlements under employment legislation,” he said.
“On a practical level, we work proactively with our members to increase their awareness of the rights of non-EEA fishers,” O’Donnell said.
“We believe it would be useful to introduce a module on employment law in the BIM’s vessel owners/skippers training programmes, as recommended by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in their February 2022 report,” he said.
“Our crews are the backbone of the traditional fishing activity,” he said, and “these employees have valuable skill sets that are critical to our business and are much prized”.
