Irish Ferries and union to hold talks with LRC

THE Labour Relations Commission (LRC) will hold informal talks with Irish Ferries and SIPTU today to assess the willingness of both sides to work towards a resolution of their bitter dispute.

The LRC will use the talks to judge whether there would be any value from it getting involved, as Irish Ferries has already rejected a Labour Court recommendation aimed at resolving the damaging row.

SIPTU last night confirmed it had agreed to hold talks with the LRC. Irish Ferries will do likewise, but in a separate meeting, and a spokesman for the company stressed that the talks would be “exploratory” only.