Vol. 475 No. 7
202 Dr. Woods asked the Minister for Social Welfare the current position regarding the insurability of people engaged in share fishing following the recent ruling by the European Court of Justice in the Agegate case; if amending legislation will be required; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5724/97]
Since coming to office I have had a review of the insurability position of share fishermen and women for social insurance carried out in the Department. Taking account of the working arrangements which apply to this group of workers, and the ruling of the European Court of Justice in the Agegate case, the legal advice available to the Department confirms that those persons who are employed under contract of service conditions are insurable at the ordinary rate and are eligible for all benefits. This applies under the present legislation and therefore amending legislation is not required.
Persons who are employed under contract for service conditions, such as self-employed owner-skippers of boats or partners are insurable at Class S.
The situation was explained to representatives of the fishing industry whom I met on 14 January last.
The new arrangements come into effect immediately and sharefishermen who are not owners or owners-skippers should apply to their local social welfare inspector if they have a claim for unemployment assistance or unemployent benefit, disability benefit or occupational injury benefit, and their claims will be processed as quickly as possible. Because of the long and complex history of this issue, there are a number of issues with regard to eligibility which have to be resolved and a small number of cases may have to be referred to scope section of the Department for a ruling.
I have established a small working group in the Department to address these issues and I expect its report within weeks.
Any person who wishes to have a ruling regarding the insurability of his or her employment should apply to the scope section of the Department.
