Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

We must be very clear about this. As the Deputy is aware, the Minister of State, Deputy Gallagher, has been negotiating in Brussels on the manning directive. A number of other countries also took issue with aspects of the directive at that time. It is not fair to say there was a direct relationship between any of those issues and the action and behaviour of Irish Ferries, nor has the company advanced this as a basic cause for the action it has taken. It has advanced the view that the ultimate motivation for its action is to be found in what it perceives to be its current competitive disadvantage vis-À-vis the international maritime sector. The Government is already on record as not being in agreement with Irish Ferries on its view and in condemning the manner in which it took that action.

We must be careful we do not use other issues as excuses for the kind of fundamental departure that was made in attempting to replace one set of workers with another on a lower scale. I do not wish to say anything that would undermine the talks process within the Labour Relations Commission. The Government is open to taking whatever measures are necessary to facilitate a resolution of this dispute. It will take whatever constructive approach is necessary on a range of issues pertaining to the maritime sector to facilitate a resolution of the dispute. In essence, however, it is a matter for both parties.

Last week I met Irish Ferries, the ICTU and SIPTU on behalf of the Government to convey to them the gravity in which the Government views the situation in terms of not just the Irish Ferries dispute but the wider implications for social partnership and the need and imperative to get back into talks and utilise to the maximum potential the existing industrial relations machinery of the State. We will not be found wanting in terms of assisting that process of resolution.

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