I thank the Minister for coming in this evening. I appreciate it. I hope, as Minister, he will take up the matter I raise. It is not an attempt to have a go at the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources.
I am not sure people are aware of the massive value of the goods which go through our ports, which is worth about £100 billion. These goods are largely the basis of our economic growth and the foundation on which our wealth is based. They are a significant factor in our having become an exporter over the past ten years. The ports play a vital role. Ordinary people are probably not aware that approximately one in three of the ships entering our ports is registered under a flag of convenience. This means that instead of the ship being registered in the country in which the beneficial owners live, it is registered in a country where there are no legislative requirements to fulfil as regards health and safety, marine regulations or worker protection. It gives carte blanche to unscrupulous owners. In many cases it is done for tax purposes, though that is probably the least of the reasons. The reality is that ships are registered in countries, Liberia being a favourite, where they are not required to observe stringent conditions to operate.
These ships employ as crew the very cheapest labour. Crew members are treated extremely badly and are exploited unmercifully. This is not simple polemic and these are not just my words on it. The evidence is there for all to see. They generally come from under-developed countries and their families at home are dependent on the pittance of a wage they get. For that reason they are always afraid to complain about their conditions. When docked in our ports – this is something people will not be aware of – a crew member of a foreign ship is answerable to the courts for any breach of the law committed, but is not subject to any other Irish law. In other words, they are not subject to health and safety regulations, worker protection regulations or marine regulations. They are only covered by the law in the country of the flag of convenience. The flag of the ship determines the laws by which it is covered.
We saw a ship in the port of Cork on the news last year. The crew were there for over a year without a penny, without protection, without resources and without wages. The goodwill of dock workers and other people in Cork kept them alive. The incidence of foreign crews marooned here is growing more common. They are often there for weeks at a time, but we now have a state of affairs where they are here for over a year and are completely dependent on the charity of local workers or unions, which tend to look after them. They cannot even get home as many of them are from the far side of the world and do not have the money.
The majority of the owners of ships sailing under flags of convenience are unscrupulous and treat their crews appallingly in terms of pay and the conditions under which they work. I do not say that lightly. I have spoken to the inspectors who have visited ships on behalf of the International Transport Workers Federation. They have offered to bring Members of the Oireachtas on board some of these ships to show them the conditions under which these foreign workers are living. The International Transport Workers Federation reckons that at any one time there are more than a dozen of these ships-of-shame docked in Irish ports. This amounts to Third World forced labour and sweat-shop conditions operating on this island. We oppose it in the far east and we should do the same at home. Ships flying flags of convenience must be examined and their unscrupulous owners exposed and shamed. We have a duty to seek protective rights for these unfortunate seafarers.
I ask the Government to convince the international community that all ships be registered in the country of the beneficial owners so that Europeans do not register their ships in Liberia and treat workers worse than animals. I ask that legislation be passed giving the State the right to send inspectors aboard all ships brought to their attention by the Irish representatives of the International Transport Workers Federation. The current circumstance is an embarrassment to us as a country which protects its workers and its neighbours and which has a long-standing international reputation of concern for exploited workers in other countries. I want those who book on fancy cruises to make sure that the workers below decks looking after them are paid decent wages and have proper and safe working conditions.
There is an innovative anti-competitiveness about these ships sharing ports and harbours with other ships whose workers are paid a decent wage and where health and safety regulations and maritime regulations are observed, obviously at a cost to their owners. It is anti-competitive and I ask the Minister to take that on board. We would not allow people to come here and work without protecting them. We have had cases recently where we have been embarrassed at the treatment of foreign workers in meat factories in different parts of the country. The Government rightly took action on that and the appropriate Department was clear that it would not put up with it. This is something which all seafaring people would support. What is happening on some of these ships is tragic. The conditions in which some of these seafaring workers operate are not much better than those in the coffin ships we sent abroad 160 years ago. I ask the Minister to give a positive response to that demand and to ensure that Ireland leads the way in protecting seafarers in Europe.
