Irish seafaring jobs could be wiped out within five years unless the State provides increased aid for the shipping sector, a Government-commissioned report has warned.
It calls for the introduction of tax breaks and other measures to encourage shipping companies to employ Irish crew members rather than cheaper labour from abroad.
If the Government fails to intervene, the trend towards outsourcing employment on ships could see 900 Irish seafaring jobs lost in the next three to five years, the report warns.
That would amount to a displacement of Irish seafarers by lower-paid ship workers from other countries.
It would also result in a direct loss to the Exchequer of up to €12 million over the next five years, the report warns, given that foreign crew members do not pay taxes in Ireland.
The report was prepared by the Irish Maritime Development Office at the request of Minster of State for the Marine Pat "The Cope" Gallagher.
Its report, which has been seen by The Irish Times, says Irish seafaring employment is "under serious threat" from outsourcing of employment to non-Irish crews.
It says there is a "very real possibility" that direct sea-based employment by Irish shipping companies could fall by 90 per cent over the next three years, with continued decline after that through "natural attrition".
It recommends the introduction of a PAYE refund scheme under which ship owners could claim back some or all of the income tax paid by seagoing employees.
It also wants the Government to consider paying shipping companies up to 50 per cent of the cost of training Irish seafarers.
Supports of the type proposed are permitted by the EU and have been used successfully to reverse the trend towards outsourcing in other member states, the report adds.
The major beneficiary of such measures in the Republic would be Irish Ferries, which is the largest single employer of Irish seafarers.
The company has already outsourced employment on its Rosslare to France service, a move which led to a strike by Siptu members last year.
The vessel it uses on the route, the Normandy, has been reregistered in the Bahamas and its crew members, who are mainly from the Baltic states, are supplied by an external agency.
The International Transport Workers' Federation claimed recently that crew on the Normandy are paid an average of €3.50 an hour, less than half the Irish minimum wage, for an 84-hour week.
The company responded that pay rates on the ship were equal to or better than those "paid by other ship-owners against whom Irish Ferries are regularly obliged to compete".
The report was welcomed by Siptu official Paul Smyth, who raised the issue of State funding for the shipping sector with Mr Gallagher last year.
