One of the longest-running industrial relations protests in the history of the State ended in Cork today.

A sit-in at a factory sparked by a row over redundancy payments looks set to come to an end tomorrow afternoon, after 161 days.

The long-awaited deal to secure the Vita Cortex workers ex-gratia redundancy was finally signed off on yesterday.

Vita Cortex workers are expecting redundancy funds to begin flowing into their bank accounts from today as their marathon 151-day sit-in nears its end.

After 139 days of round-the-clock sit-ins, the former employees of Vita Cortex have finally secured a severance deal with their former employer which will allow them to go home within a fortnight.

After their marathon sit-in, former Vita Cortex workers could barely contain their excitement that the dispute was finally over and they could look forward to going home.

The former Vita Cortex workers are keeping their powder dry after meeting to discuss escalating their almost five-month dispute over redundancy payments.

Workers at the Vita Cortex plant in Cork are planning a “major escalation” of their protest following the company’s refusal to take on board the guidance offered by mediation officials who attempted to find a solution to the four-month-long dispute.

Workers at the Vita Cortex plant in Cork have pledged to escalate their protest.

The board and management of Vita Cortex have rejected mediation proposals aimed at resolving the four-month dispute at the company over redundancy payments.

Former Vita Cortex workers have urged company boss Jack Ronan to accept new recommendations to end their four-month sit-in and let them “go home to their families”.

Protesting workers at the Vita Cortex plant in Cork have voted to accept a series of recommendations from the Labour Relations Commision (LRC) aimed at ending the dispute.

Attempts to mediate a dispute in the redundancy row at the Vita Cortex plant in Cork have failed, it was announced this afternoon.

There was fresh hope today that the long-running Vita Cortex dispute could finally be brought to an end.

Siptu last night called on Vita Cortex boss Jack Ronan to respond to reports that Nama has offered him a way of ending the 111-day sit-in by his former workers in Cork.

Workers protesting at the former Vita Cortex factory in Cork today said they had locked the gates of the site in what amounted to an escalation of the dispute.

Hopes of a breakthrough in the protracted Vita Cortex dispute were dashed last night.

Union officials representing the Vita Cortex workers have insisted manager Jack Ronan has a clear moral obligation to compensate his staff, regardless of whether he has a legal obligation to pay extra redundancy.

Talks have taken place at the Labour Relations Commission in Dublin as part of efforts to end the Vita Cortex dispute.

There are hopes of a breakthrough in the long-running Vita Cortex dispute after Siptu agreed last night to attend talks at the Labour Relations Commission next week.

Workers at Vita Cortex have defended their decision to reject an offer of partial redundancy payments designed to end their 78-day sit-in.

Siptu last night said it had rejected what it described as, a “derisory offer” made to the Vita Cortex workers staging a sit-in at their former employer’s Cork plant.

Hollywood actor Cillian Murphy has written to the former Vita Cortex employees in his native Cork City expressing his support for their sit-in.

Family and friends of the Vita Cortex workers are planning a candlelit vigil at the factory next week.

The 32 workers engaged in a sit-in at the Vita Cortex plant in Cork received a boost over the weekend when former Republic of Ireland soccer international Paul McGrath visited the factory less than a day after they attended a fundraising concert held in their honour by musician Christy Moore.

The former Vita Cortex workers, who admit to feeling imprisoned, have pleaded with Cork’s TDs to do something fast to resolve their 63-day sit-in over redundancy payments.

Vita Cortex workers are not entitled to get any kind of “top-up” from the company which employed them on statutory redundancy paid by the Government, the Department of Social Protection has said.

Thirty-two workers on sit-in at the closed Vita Cortex factory in Cork have earned a massive morale boost after Alex Ferguson joined a growing line of supporters.

Up to 5,000 people attended a march organised in support of Vita Cortex workers over the weekend in one of the biggest public demonstrations Cork city has seen in recent years.

An investigation into Vita Cortex’s refusal to pay redundancy to 32 workers will not be possible, the Taoiseach told the Dáil.

The Vita Cortex workers have vowed to continue their sit-in despite threats of legal action.

Workers at the Vita Cortex plant in Cork are hoping that a crucial meeting today between the Taoiseach and Jobs Minister Richard Bruton will bring an end to their dispute with management over redundancies.

The Vita Cortex workers hope that a crucial meeting today between the Taoiseach and the Enterprise Minister will result in a breakthrough in their protracted 54-day sit-in.

Nama has said there is no conflict of interests after a photograph emerged of one of its senior executives on a cycling holiday with Vita Cortex boss Jack Ronan.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny met with protesting Vita Cortex workers to tell them he was taking “a personal interest” in their plight, and would be contacting the enterprise minister today for a briefing on Jack Ronan’s finances.

“If I could pick up the phone and tell him to find the redundancy money, I would.”

Taoiseach Enda Kenny met with protesting Vita Cortex workers to tell them he was taking “a personal interest” in their plight, and would be contacting the enterprise minister today for a briefing on Jack Ronan’s finances.

As the Vita Cortex workers face into the 50th day of their sit-in at the former foam factory over redundancy payments, there appears to be no end in sight to the dispute, writes Eoin English.

Workers at the Vita Cortex plants in Cork have announced they will get their statutory redundancy payments from the Department of Social Protection next week.

We are not giving up until you pay up — that was the defiant message from the Vita Cortex workers to their former employer last night after taking their protest to the gates of his home.

A director and former non-executive chairman of Vita Cortex broke his silence on the bitter six-week dispute last night as the sit-in workers began protesting outside his home.

While recognising Vita Cortex workers’ rights to protest, the efforts of management to find a resolution should be acknowledged, writes John McHenry

Vita Cortex workers have taken their protest to the home of one of the company’s owners in Douglas, Cork.

Siptu has accused the owner of Vita Cortex of using his former workers as “pawns” in his talks with Nama after it emerged he failed to deliver on a deal that could have ended the six-week sit-in last Friday.