Irish Ferries agrees to talks, but won’t discuss lay-offs

Irish Ferries has agreed to attend talks at the Labour Court on Monday, but has said it will not be discussing its plan to replace 550 workers with cheaper labour from abroad.

The company had been invited to hearings at the industrial relations body today, but it claimed it had not been given enough notice and needed more time to prepare.

It rejected suggestions that the move was a deliberate ploy to delay the talks until after the deadline for acceptance of a voluntary redundancy package expires this Sunday.

Irish Ferries has insisted that it is not prepared to discuss the redundancies and will only engage in talks on one issue relating to an employment agreement.

The company says the redundancies are needed to protect its profitability, but the measure has been sharply criticised by the Government and the trade union movement.

SIPTU, which had agreed to participate in today's talks, has served strike notice that is due to take effect early next week.