Irish justice system ‘failing’ migrant fishing workers who report exploitation: Investigation

“After several years working back and forth as a seaman, it’s the first time that I experienced an employer that abused me. They mistreated us.”

Lloyd* didn’t know he would be fishing in Ireland. When he signed his contract in the Philippines, it was with a company based in Northern Ireland for work on a UK-registered boat.

But once his flight landed in Belfast – via Abu Dhabi and London – his new employer picked him up and a few hours later he arrived in a fishing port in Castletownbere, Co Cork, where the vessel was docked.

The 40 year old is both an engineer and deckhand, able to fix engines as well as manoeuvre nets on a boat. He is well used to tough work, with over a decade of experience in the profession, including in Scotland and his hometown on one of the most southern islands of the Philippines.

He came from a family familiar with seafaring and after his brother worked on boats in Europe, Lloyd followed in his footsteps. Paid just Php 380 (€6.50) per day at home, like many other migrant workers from the archipelago, he left the country to seek better-paying jobs abroad.

“Compared to all my other years working as a seafarer, this is the hardest because I don’t get any rest… Fishing is continuous. You only get to sleep three to four hours, and work 20 to 21 hours a day.”

Lloyd is one of hundreds of fishers from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) in Ireland, with workers from the Philippines, Ghana, Indonesia and Egypt on trawlers catching whitefish and prawns off Ireland.

Over the past six months, as part of our HANDS ON DECK cross-border investigation, Noteworthy teamed up with journalists in both the Philippines and Ireland to investigate exploitation in the Irish fishing industry. We can now reveal:

• There has been “an across the board failure” by the justice system when it comes to trafficking of migrant fishers, according to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)

   

• An increase in alleged human trafficking victims not being formally recognised by gardaí and not being admitted through the relevant mechanism

   

• Of 35 referrals of alleged trafficking in the Irish fishing industry since 2017, six files were sent to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), with no prosecutions to date

   

• Seven years after the transit of fishers through Northern Ireland to work on vessels off Ireland was exposed by an investigation by The Guardian, human trafficking victims continue to present in similar situations to authorities

   

• In 2022, the United States Trafficking in Persons (TIPs) report stated that Ireland was “increasing efforts” to tackle trafficking but “systemic deficiencies in victim identification, referral and assistance persisted” – one of “several key areas” where “the government did not meet the minimum standards”

   

• At least 4% (18) of non-EEA fishers in a controversial working permission scheme have been formally recognised as victims of trafficking

   

• Organisations representing vessel owners contest claims of widespread trafficking and exploitation in the sector