Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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3. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if, in conjunction with the offshore renewable energy development plan, he will sign up to the equal recognition of mariner certification and training, or design a course that will provide equivalence, to enable Irish fishermen to avail of work opportunities in the offshore renewable energy sector and help develop a service industry for which fishermen are exceptionally qualified, which will ensure that Irish mariners may avail of opportunities in Irish offshore renewable energy sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46391/14]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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Ireland did not join the rest of Europe in signing up to the equal recognition of mariner certification and training. There are huge opportunities for Irish fishermen to seek alternative employment in offshore wind energy developments. We have our own offshore renewable energy development plan, published last year by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. It is important that the Marine Survey Office deal with this now to allow Irish workers and fishermen to avail of opportunities in the future.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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My primary concern regarding maritime transport is safety. I must ensure the appropriate safety standards are in place, regardless of the particular sector involved.

Ireland applies the internationally recognised standards to work on vessels servicing the offshore renewable energy sector - the standards of the International Maritime Organisation’s International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers qualifications, often abbreviated to STCW. Particular training and certification is required to work in this sector, and it is open to anyone, including fishermen, to undertake the training and attain the requisite certification.

Courses leading to certificates of competency for various positions - for example, master, mate, officer of the watch or chief engineer - are provided mainly by the National Maritime College of Ireland. In addition, my Department approves a panel of training course providers for various ancillary STCW courses which lead to certificates of proficiency. The details of these providers and the training they offer is available in marine notice No. 33 of 2013 on the Department’s website, which was last updated on 26 June 2014.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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There is a problem for fishermen in particular in availing of work in this industry. Many fishermen from Donegal work in Germany and Britain on offshore wind energy developments. They are highly experienced and are used to dealing with inclement weather conditions and manoeuvring smaller boats in those conditions. They are highly regarded, and many of them are doing such work. However, their qualifications in Ireland are not transferable abroad. The Marine Survey Office of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport could develop a course to provide that equivalency as an add-on rather than a standalone course. It would also allow Irish workers to avail of work in the proposed large offshore wind energy developments in the Irish Sea, which will have significant requirements for staff in construction and maintenance in the future. We need to ensure that Irish people are in a position to avail of those.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy asked about the provision of new courses. I will set up a meeting involving him and representatives in this area working in my Department to investigate what such courses could be.

In response to the Deputy's question, I checked the status of all the courses and certificates that are available. My Department has informed me that they all meet the requirements of the STCW convention. Because all of our certificates comply with IMO requirements, our current level of training and the certificates of our fishermen and marine employees are recognised across the world and are held in high regard.

When this was last examined, in August last, there were 518 holders of valid certificates of competency issued in Ireland across the different training courses that I have just mentioned. All of these levels of training and certification were held in high regard and allowed those who had this training to work across the world, because this level of training is recognised by the IMO. If Deputy Pringle is telling me there is a gap and that we should look at new training, I will directly engage with him on that and get more information from him on it.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for that response. I will gather that information on the matter and get it to him. I look forward to moving forward on it.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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One point that may be of assistance to Deputy Pringle is that an area I considered in response to his question was that of certificates of training that some other countries might deliver to their fishermen that do not meet the IMO template. I understand that in the United Kingdom there are some certificates and types of training that do not conform to that template in the way our own certificates do. This is something that the House of Commons transport committee has investigated, and it published a report in March last. The committee recommended that something that should be looked at is converging their training in those areas with the IMO needs to which I referred earlier. We are determined to ensure that any training we conduct or any new training that might be provided would continue to meet the needs of the IMO, because by meeting that need we can ensure that the qualifications are recognised by everybody. I suspect that might be a desire the Deputy would share, because he wants to get further employment opportunities for those on whose behalf he raises this. I will get more detail on the particular point the Deputy has raised with me in a meeting.