Ferries protest to cause major transport disruption

Public transport services are facing major disruption this afternoon during protests against Irish Ferries' plan to replace its seafaring workers with cheaper labour from eastern Europe.

The worst of the disruption will be in Dublin, where tens of thousands of people are expected to attend a march on the Dáil.

Dublin Bus has said it cannot guarantee services after 11am, while DART and other commuter rail services are also expected to be hit.

Bus Éireann, meanwhile, is predicting disruption in urban areas, but said services should be running as normal this evening.

Meanwhile, talks between Irish Ferries and SIPTU broke up without agreement at the Labour Relations Commission in Dublin early this morning.

The negotiations are not expected to resume today because of the national day of protest arranged by the trade union movement to protest at the company's controversial "outsourcing"' plan.

Irish Ferries wants to lay off all its seafaring workers and replace them with cheaper labour from eastern Europe in an effort to reduce its costs.

The company is believed to have threatened to withdraw the redundancy package it has offered to its existing workers unless a resolution was found by yesterday evening.