President Tassos Papadopoulos of Cyprus told an Oireachtas committee yesterday his country would ensure that, if Irish Ferries sought to register vessels under the Cyprus flag, it would meet all the necessary legal conditions.
He told Fine Gael's foreign affairs spokesman, Bernard Allen, that the company was entitled under the Treaty of Rome to reflag in Cyprus. But whereas some interest had been shown, there had been no official approach by Irish Ferries as yet.
"I do not think that now the Cyprus flag is of any less strictness than any other country," Mr Papadopoulos, who is on a four-day official visit to Ireland, told the Joint Committee on European Affairs. "Our flag is not a flag of convenience."
On the issue of workers' wages, the president said his country had 21 bilateral agreements on the level of remuneration but, when he checked, he discovered no application for a bilateral agreement had been received from Ireland.
Speaking to journalists earlier, Mr Papadopoulos expressed concern that the dispute could have a negative impact on his country's image: "From my side, I will do all I can not to present Cyprus as the 'bad guy' in this debacle."
He said Cyprus had a minimum wage, but only for certain groups of workers. "We have a very strong trade union movement, about 76 per cent of the labour force is unionised, and [ there are] excellent relations with the trade union movement."
Pointing out that he was a former minister for labour, he said he understood the importance of respecting collective agreements.
But he added in relation to Irish Ferries: "Legally there is very little you can do if they apply to reflag in Cyprus. Provided they comply with our laws and regulations, we cannot deny them. That's an obligation to the European Union."
Employers in his country were legally obliged to give foreign workers "exactly the same conditions of employment" as Greek Cypriots. But he added: "Whether this applies to crew on the high seas, I'm not sure." Some argued that it was doubtful whether a ferry on the Irish Sea came into this category.
"We don't want to do anything to upset what is here called the Social Partnership, but on the other hand we have to perform our obligations towards the European Union and the treaty."
Fine Gael spokesman on enterprise Phil Hogan said: "It's clear that the Minister for the Marine and the Government have been slow in investigating all routes to prevent the reflagging of ships in the ownership of Irish Ferries.
"This casual approach in relation to the negotiation of EU aids, the tax treatment on rates of pay of workers, as well as the fact that there is no bilateral agreement between Ireland and Cyprus in respect of maritime issues and other matters, has contributed to this very serious dispute at Irish Ferries."