Minister for the Marine Pat "The Cope" Gallagher has urged Irish Ferries to delay the implementation of a redundancy plan for 543 workers on its Irish Sea routes.
Pickets during the strike last year in response to the company's decision to outsource crew on its service between Rosslare and France, which SIPTU viewed as replacing Irish seafarers with low-paid foreign workers
Irish Ferries said yesterday it could not longer continue its operations on the Holyhead and Pembroke routes because of high costs, competition from low-cost shipping firms and soaring fuel costs.
It offered eight weeks' pay per year of service to its workers on the routes but said the offer was only on the table if unions accepted that outside agencies will be used to staff the ships in the future.
The company has already outsourced employment on its Rosslare to France service, a move which led to a strike by Siptu members last year. The union was quick to serve strike notice after yesterday's announcement too.
Mr Gallagher said the Irish Ferries decision was "a regrettable one and I am extremely disappointed that the company felt the need to resort to such extreme measures."
He urged the company to delay its plan until his proposals for additional tax breaks for the shipping sector have been considered by Government.
He said a report carried out by the Irish Maritime Development Office, which reviewed existing State aids and considered the case for new or modified aids, was with the Minister for Finance for consideration.