A tribunal is to decide whether or not two boat captains who worked on the State's national sea floor mapping project have the protection of employment law after they brought legal action challenging their alleged dismissals.
Skippers Peter Cullen and Roy Jackson are both pursuing rights claims against Dún Laoghaire Powerboat School Ltd, the holder of a staff supply contract with the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) to crew vessels working on INFOMAR - a 20-year project which started in 2006 to map the sea floor around Ireland.
Dún Laoghaire Powerboat School, the sole supplier of crew for INFOMAR's vessels since 2023, the tribunal has been told, says Mr Cullen and Mr Jackson have no standing to pursue their claims, arguing they were never engaged as employees.
At the Workplace Relations Commission, company representative Jim Keegan said it had contractual agreements in place with Mr Cullen and Mr Jackson as "sole traders or as a company" and that they had been paid in line with these contracts on foot of invoices.
"At no point have we paid PAYE or PRSI in terms of Mr Jackson or Mr Cullen," Mr Keegan said, adding that Mr Cullen included vat on his invoices.
Mr Keegan told the tribunal that on foot of GSI tenders, the powerboat school won a series of one-year contracts starting in 2023 "to supply staff - skippers, surveyors, data processors" for the marine survey programme.
"They may have had someone from the GSI contact them with the possibility of employment - sorry, I shouldn't say that word – the possibility of a contract," Mr Keegan said.
"The only contact we would have had is by email; we would have had people recommended to us and issued a contract if we’re satisfied they’re suitable for a position," he said.
He said that GSI had a different system for staffing its vessels prior to 2022, under which contractors could bid for work. "It was my understanding that Mr Cullen was part of that framework," he said.
"Ultimately what happened was that the GSI decided at the end of that framework they were looking for one company to deal with. Naturally enough, being a training company in the insustry, we would have a fair bit of knowledge of people working in it," he said.
"We were aware Peter Cullen was a previous contractor with the GSI - he’d suitable qualifications and a good bit of experience as well," he said.
He also said Mr Cullen had included a trading name on his invoices.
He said Mr Jackson, who had travelled from South Africa to take up the role, had been recommended by a GSI employee when a vacancy arose on a second vessel.
Leanne Fox, who represented both of the skippers, said the contracts were "bogus".
Mr Cullen, she said, had worked "directly for GSI" on the INFOMAR mapping operations "doing exactly the same job".
"They forced him to go out to the powerboat school; he was then forced to sign the contract that was presented to them," she said.
Questioned by adjudication officer Patricia Owens on the level of control the men had over their own work, Mr Keegan said the men were "attached to the vessel", which was assigned to a survey area according to the GSI's "overall goal at the beginning of the season".
Start and finish times for work were determined by the respondent, he said in answer to Ms Owens' questioning. Mr Keegan said the skippers were "absolutely" permitted to provide a substitute for the work "provided they were suitably qualified", and that other contract skippers the firm engaged had done this.
Mr Keegan said there was no uniform provided and that while the vessels were supplied by the GSI, the skippers would provide their own lifejackets and boots.
Some of these points were disputed by Ms Fox, who said: "The powerboat school dictates who goes with them on their boats. They also dictate and provide all safety equipment and uniform; and if anything needs to be replaced, the powerboat school provides," she said.
She added that the respondent provided accommodation, a car, a credit card, toll tag and a fuel card to the skippers.
The law or laws under which the men have brought their complaints was not stated during the preliminary hearing.
Ms Owens adjourned the matter on Friday after saying: "There is only a substantive case if the two are employees of the company. If they’re not, they’re not, and that ends the matter."
She said she would review the documents and submissions before her, make a determination on the men’s status as employees, and either reconvene in the New Year or close the matter based on her findings.
