The Scheme for the employment of non-EEA fishers in parts of the Irish commercial sea-fishing fleet was launched on 15th February 2016.
The Scheme is an extension of the Atypical Working Scheme, administered by the Department of Justice & Equality (Immigration Delivery Service).
My Department’s role in this scheme is limited to hosting the Central Depository, which facilitates applications for Pre-Approvals to the Scheme, and chairing the Oversight Committee established to monitor the Scheme and ensure that it is operating as intended.
The granting of permissions to work in the State, under the Atypical Working Scheme, is a matter for decision exclusively by the Immigration Delivery Service.
The Department has checked the Central Depository to retrieve the following data, which only reflects pre-approval applications submitted to the Department and not final permissions issued by the Immigration Delivery Service of the Department of Justice & Equality.
- 237 active pre-approval applications have been received under the Scheme, of which 70 are original pre-approval applications received within the last 12 months.
- There have been 167 pre-approval renewal applications submitted within the last 12 months.
- The number of fishing vessel licence holders that are represented among the current contracts is 64.
Finally, according to the Licencing Authority for Sea Fishing Boats there are approximately 103 vessels associated with the 64 licence holders referenced above.
