The Tricolour is at risk of becoming internationally recognised as a maritime "flag of convenience" because of its increasing use by foreign shipping interests with no connection to Ireland, a union leader has claimed.
Mr Tony Ayton of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) has sought a meeting with the Minister for the Marine, Mr Ahern, to highlight his concerns about the issue.
Mr Ayton says that over the past nine months or so eight "quite large ships", all beneficially owned by foreign companies, have re-registered under the Irish flag.
The ITF, which is attached to SIPTU in Ireland, is concerned about enforcement of employment standards on the vessels concerned.
In a letter to Mr Ahern last month, Mr Ayton asked if the Minister could confirm that once a ship was registered in a particular country, all the laws and regulations of that country were applicable on board.
In a reply on March 30th, Mr Ahern said he could not confirm this. "Such a query should be directed to the AG's (Attorney General's) office for legal interpretation."
The Minister said his office dealt primarily with the safety of life at sea and pollution prevention.
"I cannot confirm that all the employment legislation and regulations of the State extend to ships flying the flag of the State and I would question the authority of this office to enforce such legislation," he wrote.
"I would suggest that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment be contacted in addition to the AG's office for clarification."
In a further letter to Mr Ahern last week, Mr Ayton said seven of the eight vessels which had re-registered in the Republic were more than 20 years old and had no connection with the State.
Only two were listed as having visited an Irish port in recent years. One of these had visited Waterford twice and the other had been to Belfast once.
All of the vessels were crewed exclusively by eastern European personnel.
ITF-approved wages and conditions continued to apply on board the eight ships, but some of the agreements in place were now lapsing and renewal was not certain.
There was a danger, said Mr Ayton, that the Irish flag would become recognised in maritime terms as a flag of convenience. "That is not going to do Ireland's international reputation a lot of good."
Flags of convenience were defined in 1958 by the OECD as the flags of countries whose laws made it easy for foreign interests to fly those flags.
"This is in contrast to the practice in maritime countries (and in many others) where the right to fly the national flag is subject to stringent conditions and involves far-reaching obligations," the OECD said.
