I propose to take Questions Nos. 182 and 183 together.
The reference in my reply of 23 October 1985 to the "form approved by the Minister" was intended to refer to the Minister responsible for the administration of the Merchant Shipping Acts, now the Minister for Communications. The matters raised in (a), (b), (c) and (d) of the Deputy's questions are, therefore, appropriate to the Minister for Communications.
As I indicated in my reply of 23 October, the exclusion of seamen from the application of the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973, was based on the consideration that the conditions of employment of seamen reflected the special circumstances of an employment relationship governed by the Merchant Shipping Acts. The position, as represented to my Department at that time, was that the provisions of the 1973 Bill were not properly applicable to the particular circumstances of seamen. Accordingly, the issue raised by the Deputy at (e), as to whether copies of crew agreements were obtained by the Department of Labour, does not arise as the provisions of any crew agreement and its form had to be approved by the then Department of Transport and Power.
As regards the Deputy's suggestion that some of the written agreements made when the Bill for that Act of 1973 was before the Oireachtas were seen to be less beneficial than the provisions of that Act, it does not appear from reports of the Dáil or Seanad debates that this point was made when the Bill was being debated in 1972 and 1973.
Finally, I would be prepared to consider in consultation with the Minister for Communications, in view of his special responsibilities under the Merchant Shipping Acts, any specific suggestions which the Deputy may wish to put forward in relation to amendment of the 1973 Act to include seamen.
