Irish Ferries is cutting its workforce by 150. 125 permanent jobs are being lost, with the other 25 being long-service temporary staff.
Irish Continental Group, which runs Irish Ferries, says the changes are part of its restructuring of the service between Ireland and France in order to reduce costs and maintain competitiveness. Irish Ferries carried 7% fewer cars this year between Ireland and France than last year.
The company says crewing on its Ireland/France service will be transferred to a third party staffing agency, who will employ fully qualified EU crew.
The change will involve a reduction in directly employed seagoing staff of approximately 150 people, of whom approximately 125 are permanent and 25 are long-service temporary staff. A number of seasonally-employed personnel will also be affected.
Irish Ferries employs a total of 1,200 people. A voluntary severance package, to meet the requisite number of seagoing staffing reductions, will be offered throughout the fleet.
Personnel from the Ireland/France service who decide not to avail of the voluntary severance package will be offered a transfer to the Irish Sea ships.
It is envisaged that the proposed redundancies/transfers will be completed before the end of November when the operation of the Continental service will cease for the winter months. Services will recommence in March 2005.
ICG said that the various initiatives will give rise to an exceptional charge to be taken in its results for the year to the end of December 2004. The amount will depend on the numbers of those opting for voluntary severance, but it is likely to be in the region of €7m.
