Unsafe conditions and low pay for migrants on Irish fishing boats exposed

Study prompts call for reforms to safeguard conditions of fishers from countries including the Philippines, Egypt, Ghana and Indonesia

Racist insults, verbal abuse, long working hours with few breaks and pay below the legal minimum wage are common workplace experiences" of migrant workers in the Irish fishing sector, says a new study.

The report, conducted by Maynooth University's Department of Law, comes four months after a damning assessment by the US state department over Ireland's failure to combat human trafficking, which stated that undocumented workers on Irish vessels are vulnerable to trafficking and forced labour.