Simon Coveney in favour of amnesty for migrants working on fishing boats
The Minister with responsibility for Fisheries says he would be in favour of an amnesty for migrants working illegally on fishing trawlers.
Simon Coveney is to lead a task-force to look into alleged widespread abuse of migrant workers in the Irish fishing industry.
It’s after a Guardian exposé on practises in the sector, but Minister Coveney says the Gardaí have been investigating the matter for months.
Mr Coveney said: "If there are people working in Ireland at the moment of course they should feel can come forward.
"If they have concerns or frustrations or they feel they're being exploited we need to hear about that, and of course the fishing industry does no that needs to be done in a way that respects people, that is consistent with international law and is consistent with Irish law," he added.
The Government has denied turning a blind eye to the problem and says it is fully committed to tackling allegations of human trafficking in the fishing industry.
The Justice Minister earlier announced that the government will set up a working group to deal with the issue of trafficked migrant workers on fishing boats.
Among the issues identified were people being paid half the minimum wage and being deprived of sleep and food.
Minister Frances Fitzgerald says the issue was discussed at today's Cabinet meeting.
"An Garda Síochána have already started work and have done work on this issue. Other countries have faced it and have found solutions so we decided at cabinet today to establish a working group.
"Minister (for Marine) Coveney will be calling together a working group examine this issue with all of the relevant agencies, including the fishing industry," she said.
Ken Fleming, Coordinator of the International Transport Workers' Federation said he has been working on the issue for 10 years.
He said the Department of Marine is very active, but they are having difficulty getting judges to take the issue seriously.
He complains that after an arduous process of getting cases to court, defendants are often offered the option of giving money to "the poor box".
The Irish Fish Producers Organisation says it is critical that work permits are provided for fishermen who have been mistreated, but says these workers are essential for the industry.
CEO Francis O'Donnell says the Government and the International Transport Workers Federation must work with his group to deal with the issue.
He said: "It looks like people have been mistreated and I think that it's my job, the Government's job and Ken Fleming's job to make sure that we address this.
"In Ireland we often have a knee-jerk reaction - so I think something in between would be the right direction to go with this.
"I don't want to see a Ryanair plane next week stuffed with fishermen from the Philippines heading home."
"A lot of them need to be here, they cannot find work at home - we cannot get young people in Ireland to actually join the fishing industry" he added.
