Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very sorry for anybody who is out of work through an industrial dispute or for other reasons. However, I am also very sorry for 40,000 ordinary Irish people who had planned an inexpensive holiday abroad in early June and were prevented from travelling by an industrial dispute which was, on the face of it, disproportionate given that there is industrial machinery in place that could assist in resolving this dispute. That is my position. I appeal again to both sides to talk out their differences and come to a satisfactory resolution.

Many people take holidays in June because their children are not doing examinations. While the families of children who are doing examinations cannot travel, other children in secondary school are on holidays in June when it is less expensive to travel than it is in July or August. Many of them take the opportunity to do so.

Individual cases are always sad and I am not criticising the Deputy for raising an individual case. However, there are 30,000 other individual cases involving people who were not able to take what was probably a well deserved holiday as a result of the industrial dispute.

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