Call to appoint vessel inspectors as ferry workers return home
The call was made yesterday after nine Romanian ferry workers flew home to their families with more than €26,000 in back pay between them, following the intervention of the ITF.
They had been working on the Celtic Star, a 11,000 tonne Cypriot-flagged freighter, which operates a ro-ro service between Liverpool and Dublin.
Department of Transport inspectors from Port State Control detained the Celtic Star a few days ago when she docked in Dublin. The freighter is being detained for failing to keep adequate records of hours worked by the crew and for having defective equipment on board.
The detention followed complaints made by the Romanians to the ITF.
Federation spokesman Ken Fleming claimed the underpayment of foreign crew members was endemic and said that if the Department of Transport appointed 10 more inspectors each of them would have caseloads.
“We need more inspectors and more co-operation from the port authorities here. The Romanians were being paid, but not for the hours they worked,” he said.
Mr Fleming added there were also five Ukrainians among the crew, who he suspected were also underpaid.
They didn’t make a complaint and Mr Fleming said he believes they were just “too terrified” of being blackballed by other ship owners if they did so.
The Celtic Star is owned by Eptanisos Maritime, a Cyprus-based company, but controlled by Jay Management Corporation, which has its headquarters in Athens.
“I would like to thank Seatruck, the Irish charterer of the vessel, for facilitating the prompt payment of the men. In contrast, the Cypriot owners and the Greek shipping agency operating the ship were slow in their response to the situation and showed no concern for the seafarers,” said Mr Fleming.
He said it once again highlighted how vessels with flags of convenience are being used on the Irish Sea to deny seafarers their entitlements and force them to work in dangerous conditions. Such behaviour, said Mr Fleming, poses a threat not only to the safety and wellbeing of the crew and passengers on board, but to other vessels on the Irish Sea.
“It will be a far happier Christmas than any of the Romanian seafarers had expected and, hopefully, the word will go out to other seafarers in similar situations that Ireland is a country where they need not to be afraid to come forward and demand their rights,” said Mr Fleming.
