Migrants working on Irish fishing trawlers are to be given new immigration rights to protect them from trafficking and modern slavery. Under the deal agreed between the Irish government and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), non-EEA fishing workers will no longer be tied to employers and will be able to leave a boat to find other work without fear of deportation.

The move comes after the ITF took the Irish government to court in Dublin for facilitating modern slavery with its permit scheme for migrant fishing workers last year. The permit scheme was introduced in response to a Guardian investigation uncovering persistent allegations of trafficking and exploitation of migrant workers in 2015, however tied workers to individual employers. In February 2019, four United Nations human rights experts had also criticised this scheme for leaving workers vulnerable to abuse.