Forget about low pay and sky-high prices, we’ll re-elect them anyway

IF Irish Ferries manages to jettison its workforce and replace it with cheaper labour, as it is so desperately trying to do, there will be widespread repercussions for workers in this country.

The company is prepared to spend €20 million on what it described as a “voluntary” redundancy package, so badly do they want to be rid of their 543 workers.

In this case, voluntary is a bit of a euphemism. They’ll get it if there’s no industrial action, or even a threat of it.