Courts / Ireland / Report

Firm staffing seabed map project says skippers not shielded by employment rights

Summary

A tribunal is to decide whether two boat captains, Peter Cullen and Roy Jackson, have the protection of employment law after they challenged their alleged dismissals from the State's national sea floor mapping project. The captains are pursuing rights claims against Dún Laoghaire Powerboat School Ltd, which holds a staff supply contract with the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) for the INFOMAR project. The company denies that the captains have standing to pursue their claims, arguing they were never engaged as employees. The tribunal heard that the company had contractual agreements with the captains as sole traders or as a company and that they were paid in line with these contracts. The captains' representatives argued that the contracts were 'bogus' and that the men were effectively working directly for GSI. The tribunal will determine whether the men are employees of the company, which is crucial for their legal claims. The adjudication officer adjourned the matter and will review the documents before making a determination on the men's status as employees.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Firm staffing seabed map project says skippers not shielded by employment rights. Procedural stage: hearing_or_decision

When:

• New Year Other
• 2025-12-05 Publication

Topics

Stage Hearing Or Decision

Read the original CNI report