Galway has become one of the first ports in the State to buy out its dockers. The deal, costing over €685,000, involves paying off more than 20 dockers employed at the port to work for Galway Stevedores Ltd.
The dockers, who were members of SIPTU, accepted the deal earlier this month after negotiations lasting 18 months.
The earnings of the dock labourers had fallen considerably in recent years, according to SIPTU, and the payout involves just over €1,000 per full year of service. A payment of an extra €570 was also agreed as a "goodwill" gesture for each docker still in employment at the time.
Galway Harbour Company says that users of the port will contribute to the overall payment. The company is to supply its own labour for similar work in the future. It maintained that the charges levied by the dockers were excessive.
The port currently has a turnover of €2.4 million and its business is concentrated on fuel imports. However, the harbour company is keen to build up links with marine research vessels, several of which have used the port in recent months. The Marine Institute is relocating from Dublin to Galway and work on a new headquarters at Oranmore is expected to begin in November.
Earlier this month, an application by the harbour company to demolish the eyesore known as the Tynagh Mines "dome" on the docks and replace it with a specialist industrial office building was turned down by Galway City Council on the grounds that the new use would be non-harbour-related.