merrion street

Last week the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) successfully completed its latest round of inspections of Irish-registered whitefish vessels.

‘Operation Proteus’ took place from Wednesday 26 June to Saturday 29 June and saw WRC inspectors board 28 whitefish vessels at seven landing places across to country to inspect employment records, carry out compliance checks and interview employees.

This latest operation brings the total number of inspections on whitefish vessels carried out to date by the WRC to almost 390 and is the sixth operation of its kind conducted by the WRC since the introduction of the Atypical Worker Permission (AWP) Scheme in February 2016.

The Scheme provides a structured and transparent framework for the employment of non-EEA workers within defined segments of the Irish fishing fleet (mainly the whitefish sector) and sets down minimum terms and conditions of employment for those workers to reduce the risk of exploitation and guarantee employment rights and protections to non-EEA workers.

Speaking after the operation, Liam Kelly, Director General of the WRC said, 

The WRC is committed to playing its part in the multi-agency efforts to enforce the AWP Scheme and continues to deploy its specially trained team of inspectors on both targeted mini-operations such as Operation Proteus and on ad hoc unannounced inspections. The WRC has also invested significantly in promoting awareness within the fisheries sector; attending fisheries events, speaking to workers during inspections, producing publications on employment rights in multiple languages and having a dedicated webpage for owners and fishers on our website.

Since 2016, some 260 contraventions of employment rights and employment permits legislation have been detected by the WRC as part of this multi-agency effort to enforce the scheme. Other agencies involved in the inspection effort include the Department of Justice and Equality, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Marine Survey Office (MSO) of the Department of Tourism, Transport and Sport, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI).

Following an agreement reached last April between the WRC and the Marine Survey Office (MSO), the WRC now refers any potential issues related to compliance with working time and hours of rest regulations encountered during inspections to the MSO, which is tasked with their enforcement.