Irish Ferries' use of low-paid workers from abroad caused a damaging strike, writes Chris Dooley, Industry and Employment Correspondent
The decision by Irish Ferries last year to outsource employment on its Rosslare-France service sparked a major dispute with its main union, Siptu.
The company's replacement of Irish-based crew on the route with agency workers from abroad, hired at much lower pay rates, led to a damaging strike in December. It also sparked a series of protests at French ports used by the company.
Now a report commissioned by Minister of State for the Marine Pat "The Cope" Gallagher at the height of the dispute has delivered a stark message to the Government.
Act now, it says, or the 900-odd existing Irish seafaring jobs will be gone within five years.
One of the few points on which Irish Ferries and Siptu had agreed was that it seemed unfair that the company's competitor on the route, Brittany Ferries, was subsidised by local and regional government in France. Irish Ferries, it appeared, was barred under EU competition regulations from receiving State funding.
Mr Gallagher asked the Irish Marine Development Office (IMDO), a State agency charged with promoting the growth of Irish shipping, to look into the matter.
Its report, seen by The Irish Times, finds that the Government can indeed provide additional aid to shipping companies without breaching EU guidelines drawn up last year. The consequences of failing to do so, it says, would not be confined to the loss of 900 seafaring jobs.
There would also be a direct loss of revenue to the Exchequer of between €8 million and €12 million over the next five years.
This takes account of potential unemployment costs as well as the fact that seafarers resident abroad do not pay income tax in Ireland, even if they work for an Irish shipping company.
There would be further indirect losses to the Exchequer, the report points out, arising from a fall in indirect employment, for example.
And the consequences would not stop there. The disappearance of Irish seafaring jobs would result in "the loss of maritime knowledge and know-how in Ireland", the report states.
"The evaporation of employment on Irish trades routes might act as a disincentive to Irish cadets considering a career at sea," it adds.
"This is because while most seafarers in their early years go to sea on international routes outside of Europe, most aim to return to employment in Ireland at some point."
There is also the prospect that Irish ship owners will "de-register their vessels" from Ireland to non-EU countries, the report warns. It says there is much the Government can do, however, to prevent this scenario from unfolding.
Action is recommended under two main headings: tax breaks for ship owners and financial assistance towards the cost of training seafarers.
A PAYE refund scheme, under which ship owners would be refunded some or all of the income tax paid by Irish-based seagoing employees, could remove the impetus for companies to outsource jobs, the report argues.
A scheme to alleviate up to 50 per cent of training costs is also recommended.
Similar measures have proved successful in reversing the trend towards outsourcing in a number of European countries including Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands.