Minister Gallagher and Seaman's Union react to Irish Ferries announcement

The Minister for the Marine, Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher, has said that he is extremely disappointed that Irish Ferries is seeking 543 redundancies from its staff on Irish Sea routes.

The company claims that it cannot afford high labour costs, and is hoping to replace most of its staff with cheaper crews from Eastern Europe.

Minister Gallagher described the decision as regrettable and extreme, and called on the company to wait for a government decision on tax breaks before implementing it.

The Seaman's Union of Ireland has said that it is shocked by the announcement, and questioned the legality of some of the cost-cutting measures.

Spokesman Bob Carrick said today that the company gave assurances this wouldn't happen: “In the Labour Court, when we were there, the promise from the company was that if they got what they wanted on the French route they would not come after the Irish Sea. We had an agreement in June of last year [to last] for three years, so we weren’t expecting this now.”