Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 April 2023
232. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if the regulation that pertained during the existence of the atypical work permit scheme for non-EEA fishers whereby no more than 50% of the crew of an eligible fishing vessel should have consisted of non-EEA nationals still applies in the context of non-EEA nationals currently in the fleet being stamp-4 visa holders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19979/23]
View answerThe occupation of Sea-fisher is currently on the Ineligible Occupations List and, as such, is not eligible for an employment permit. The Department of Justice report on the Review of the Atypical Scheme for non-EEA Crew in the Irish Fishing Fleet concluded that the employment of non-EEA crew in the Irish fishing fleet, which had been catered for under the Atypical Working Scheme (AWS) since 2015, should be provided for under the Employment Permits system.
The AWS for non-EEA Crew in the Irish fishing fleet was established in 2015 as a cross-departmental response to address claims of exploitation and trafficking of undocumented non-EEA workers on certain categories of vessels in the Irish fishing fleet. The AWS closed to fishers on 01 January 2023, and those fishers with a valid AWS permission up to 31 December 2022 were eligible to apply for a Stamp 4 immigration permission from the Department of Justice.
For the transition of the sector from AWS to the Employment Permit system to be implemented it was noted by the cross-departmental group that sector representative groups should make a submission to remove the occupation of fishers from the Ineligible Occupations List to my Department. The Group overseeing the transition of the role of fishers to the employment permits system has since convened and met on 24th March 2023. Submissions have now been received from the sector and are undergoing review at present with recommendations and applicable amendment to regulations to be proposed for Ministerial approval.
The overall time frame for implementation of the report’s recommendations was expected to be up to 12 months from the announcement date of October 2023.
Ireland’s general policy is to promote the sourcing of labour and skills needs from within the domestic/EEA labour market in keeping with our obligations under the community preference principles of membership of the EU. Among the protections for the domestic/EEA labour market is the 50:50 rule (Section 10 (2) of the Employment Permit Acts 2006 as amended) which prescribes that an employer recruiting from third countries must have sourced at least 50% of its workforce from the domestic/EEA labour market. Once the occupation of Sea-fisher comes under the remit of the Employment Permits system, employers will have to adhere to the 50:50 rule. For clarification, holders of Stamp 4 permissions are taken into account in the 50:50 rule calculation as non-EEA nationals, assuming they have not yet received citizenship from an EEA country.
