Protests to go ahead as hopes fade for ferries deal

LAST-DITCH talks on the crisis at Irish Ferries were continuing late last night even as trade unions prepared to take to the streets en masse today in the largest public protest of recent times.

At one stage as Labour Relations Commission (LRC) negotiations intensified yesterday evening, management at Irish Ferries indicated they would walk away from talks at 6pm if the union did not accept the current redundancy offer, which has not changed since the dispute began two weeks ago.

SIPTU, for its part, claimed to have offered significant cost savings - understood to be in the region of the €20 million Irish Ferries had been seeking. That offer, though, was conditional on the postponement of the company’s plan to re-flag its vessels or a guarantee that no one would be paid less than the national minimum wage.