Ireland has established a new work permit program that allows the nation’s fishing companies to apply for permits to hire workers from outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
However, only four Irish fishing companies have applied to participate in the program, which sets a minimum annual wage of EUR 34,000 (USD 35,300) and a minimum standard of working conditions under each permit.
Ireland’s Department of Enterprise, the government ministry which administers the scheme, has set a quota of 150 permits for the fishing sector but told SeafoodSource it has only received four applications, “of which two have been issued, one has been refused, and one is awaiting a decision.”
Michael O'Brien, regional officer of U.K. trade union Unite the Union, told SeafoodSource that instituting the new system was necessary, as the gap in time from scrapping the old permit scheme to the introduction of the new system led to fishing companies hiring staff illegally.
“Two Indonesian nationals working on Irish fishing vessels illegally were referred in October [2024] to the Irish police’s Human Trafficking Investigation and Coordination Unit (HTICU) for protection,” O’Brien said.
Therefore, O’Brien described the new plan as a “significant improvement” on the scheme it replaced and essential to avoiding such instances.
Irish Fish Producers Organization (IFPO) CEO Aodh O’Donnell, however, said that intense bureaucracy was the main culprit for the low application rate...
