Solicitud directa (CEACR) - Adopción: 2011, Publicación: 101ª reunión CIT (2012)

Convenio sobre las horas de trabajo a bordo y la dotación de los buques, 1996 (núm. 180) - Irlanda (Ratificación : 1999)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

Repetition

Article 5(1)(b) of the Convention. Minimum hours of rest. According to section 6(1) of S.I. 532/2003, a seafarer is entitled to minimum hours of rest that are not less than 72 hours in any seven-day period. The Convention requires, however, that the minimum hours of rest in any seven-day period be not less than 77 hours. The Committee requests the Government to take appropriate measures to bring the national legislation into conformity with the Convention, so that a seafarer is entitled to minimum hours of rest that are not less than 77 hours in any seven-day period, as required by this provision of the Convention. As regards watchkeeping, the Committee asks the Government to specify whether currently there are any ships registered in Ireland that operate on a system where the watchkeeping responsibilities are shared by only two officers (e.g. six hours on, six hours off). If so, please indicate: (i) what measures have been taken to avoid infringements of the requirements of the Convention concerning hours of work or rest, resulting from additional work which officers have to perform outside their watchkeeping routine, e.g. duties under the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code; (ii) whether the examination of the records of such ships has revealed any infringements of the requirements of the Convention; and (iii) what measures have been taken to avoid any future infringements.

Article 5(3). Rest in case of musters or drills. According to section 6(3) of S.I. 532/2003, musters, fire drills and abandon-ship drills prescribed by law shall be conducted in a manner that minimizes the disturbance of hours of rest and does not induce fatigue. Please describe the concrete measures taken pursuant to this provision of the Convention, in order to minimize the disturbance of rest periods as a result of musters and drills.

Article 5(4). Rest in the event of call-outs. Section 6(4) of S.I. 532/2003 states that a seafarer who is on call on board ship shall have an adequate compensatory rest period if his or her scheduled hours of rest are disturbed by call outs to work. Please specify the concrete measures taken in conformity with this provision of the Convention to ensure an adequate compensatory rest period for seafarers on call whose normal rest period was disturbed by call-outs to work.

Article 5(6). Collective agreements. Since the report remains silent on the subject, the Committee asks the Government to indicate whether there is any procedure in place for the authorization or registration by the competent authority of collective agreements permitting exceptions to the limits set out in Article 5(1) or (2), and whether any such collective agreements have been concluded.

Article 6. Night work. While, according to sections 4(1) and 6(1)(b) of the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act, night work is in principle prohibited for children (i.e. persons under 16 years of age or the school-leaving age, whichever is higher) and young persons between 16 and 18 years of age, section 8(1) provides that exceptions may be laid down by regulations. Indeed, according to section 2 of S.I. 1/1997, an employer in the fishing or shipping sectors may employ young persons on terms other than those specified in section 6(1)(b) of the Act, provided that any young person so employed who is assigned to work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. is allowed equivalent compensatory rest time. The Convention prohibits night work for seafarers under 18 and only allows for exceptions, if the effective training of young seafarers between the ages of 16–18 would otherwise be impaired. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that, in conformity with this Article of the Convention, the general prohibition of night work for young seafarers under 18 years of age is observed, the only possible exception being when the effective training of seafarers between the ages of 16–18, in accordance with established programmes and schedules, would be impaired.

Article 7(1). Emergency activities. In addition to the cases cited in this provision of the Convention, section 8(1) of S.I. 532/2003 provides that the master of a ship may require a seafarer to perform any hours of work necessary where, due to an emergency or the occurrence of unusual and unforeseeable circumstances outside the control of the master and the shipowner, it would not be practicable to comply with the prescribed minimum hours of rest. The Convention confers on the master the right to require a seafarer to perform any hours of work necessary, solely for the immediate safety of the ship, persons on board or cargo, or for the purpose of giving assistance to other ships or persons in distress at sea. Considering that terms such as “unusual and unforeseeable circumstances” and “practicable” are too vague to precisely delimit the cases in which the ship master shall have this latitude, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure that the master is entitled to require a seafarer to perform any hours of work necessary, only for the purposes explicitly enumerated in this provision of the Convention.

Article 10. Measures in case of infringements. Please continue to supply information on cases where infringements have led to the revision of the manning of the ship or to other measures seeking to avoid future infringements.

Article 12. Minimum age. Section 3(1) of the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act prohibits employers, in principle, from employing persons under 16 years of age or the school-leaving age, whichever is the higher, to do work. According to section 3(4)–(6) and (8), there are, however, many exceptions to this principle, allowing an employer, subject to certain safeguards, to employ a person as of the age of 14. The Committee recalls that this Article of the Convention sets out an absolute prohibition for persons of less than 16 years of age to work on a ship. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that, in conformity with this Article of the Convention, persons of less than 16 years of age shall, under no circumstances, work on board a ship.