John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I regret the decision of Irish Ferries to make 543 of its seafarers redundant or to retain them under reduced pay and conditions. This is distressing for the workers and their families. I also note that SIPTU, the Seamen's Union of Ireland and the company are in talks under the auspices of the Labour Court. All Members must be careful to say nothing that might prejudice those discussions. The debate on the Irish Ferries situation illustrates that as a small island nation, situations such as this can affect us severely and that we are vulnerable to issues of international trade. We should be much more conscious of this when discussing issues in this House, whether it be the question of foreign direct investment or so forth.

When our colleague, Deputy Hogan, spoke on this issue last night, he was particularly negative in respect of many aspects of Government policy. He said "People have heard me regularly in this House listing all the stealth taxes and charges so I will not bore the House with them". Nevertheless, he went on to list them all, including VAT, vehicle registration tax and so on.

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