Before Christmas you might have heard of the ship detained in Dublin and the sailors who had not been paid. Today’s Irish Times (sub required) follows up with a story on the work of the Stella Maris Charity. There is a building quite near my apartment which serves as the groups headquarters and I often wondered what happened there. Seemingly the minibus that I often seen parked on Talbot Street makes regular runs to Dublin port to pick up sailors from all over the world in need of a hot shower, a meal, clothes and a phone call home.

The charity recently made an unusual Christmas appeal for foul weather clothing, because many mariners coming to Dublin Port from warmer climes are poorly equipped for cold northern waters.

Volunteers such as Rose collect the crew from cargo, passenger and research ships docked at Dublin Port 365 nights a year. …

There the men (mainly) get to chat, play pool, watch television, and warm themselves by the fire, not to mention phone their wives, whom they may not have seen for nine months. Most of the men send 90 per cent of their wages home to support a large extended family of siblings, parents, cousins, nieces and nephews…

When I marched with hundreds and thousands of others over two years ago in protest at the reflagging of ships and the treatment of workers in Irish Ferries, many in the private sector and other bodies scoffed at us. Maybe they support the following conditions uncovered by the International Transport Federation in Irish ports this year also contained in the report today..

Sailors had not eaten properly for 21 days in one ship inspected last year by Ken Fleming of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF). He said there were no showers or toilets on board, and the crew had been on board for a year with no safety drill in place.

It was a busy year for the ships inspector, with four ships arrested in total. Fleming inspects some of the thousands of vessels visiting the Irish ports every year and says conditions on many ships remain primitive, with widespread on-board bullying, sailors being worked almost to death and systematic breaking of wage and hour contracts.

I mention the above story not just because of my local interest in the nearby charity being piqued but also due to the experiences of a friend on a trip on Irish Ferries last month. She was appalled at the treatment handed out to staff by management in the presence of customers. But what have we heard of the new staff since the change over? What are their working and living conditions like?