Uncertainty awaits Irish Euro 2016 fans

Clashes between youths and the local police forces decked out in riot gear. Water cannons and tear gas being used to disperse protestors, the smoke lingering for hundreds of metres causing serious discomfort for those nearby. Smashed shop fronts and banks, expensive cars and police cars being set alight and anything else that resembles capitalism finding itself in the destruction path of protesters.

All modes of transport being affected; train services being cancelled because rail workers are on strike, tram and bus services being interrupted because the demonstrators are occupying the transport routes. Fuel shortages nationwide caused by refinery workers striking indefinitely force petrol stations to shut down. Long queues and purchase limits in place in the dwindling number of petrol stations that are open for business.

Government bodies shutting their doors because employees find it increasingly difficult to buy petrol to get to work. All of this is currently happening just several hundred kilometres across the waters of the Celtic Sea.

The situation has been gradually escalating for the past few months, all over the controversial labour reforms the French Socialist government wishes to bring about.

The 'Loi Travail' bill has the aim of tackling the problems of unemployment and the large proportion of young workers who find themselves nothing but short term contracts to live off (compared to the favourable permanent pensionable jobs their elders possess). But the bill puts in threat the 35-hour working week, held dearly by French workers. It also makes it easier for firms in financial difficulty to lay off or reduce pay for workers. The increased flexibility for firms should encourage more hiring during periods of economic growth, but the French population view the proposal as a threat to job security.

The bill was originally planned to go to vote in the French parliament, but the government invoked the seldom used article 49.3 of the country’s constitution which allowed them to bypass the vote completely. The bill has been 'watered-down' from its original, but it still a no flyer with the French. Recently the social unrest and general discontent has escalated dramatically. Unions are holding the country to ransom and it has now come to the point where within days the country will come to a standstill.

While all of this is happening, hundreds of thousands of Euro 2016 fans prepare in great anticipation to embark to France to fly their country’s flag and cheer on their team. Rightly so, Euro 2012 as we all heard was incredible and the trip to Poland for Irish fans was an unforgettable experience for all the right reasons. Just a couple of weeks from now, fans will again themselves in the middle of an unforgettable experience. On this occasion unfortunately, it will be for all the wrong reasons.

Do not underestimate how much the French workers and their respective unions can disrupt the tournament. Fans and holiday makers be warned. Be prepared for flight cancellations, rail network strikes, protests in the streets and the strong possibility of arriving at a petrol station that has not a drop of unleaded or diesel for you to put into your campervan or car. For those who remember, reminisce of the World Cup held in France in 1998 and the inconvenience Air France pilots caused by going on strike for weeks right in the middle of the tournament. Now multiply that by ten, because that is how high the level of discontent is in France and how far across society it spreads. For fans attending Euro 2016 this June it is not terrorism that presents the biggest risk, but the French themselves.