Hundreds of Irish Ferries passengers were forced to use alternative services yesterday, when the company cancelled sailings in advance of a strike due to begin today.
The company's action sparked a row with SIPTU which at one point yesterday resulted in the high-speed Jonathan Swift ferry being refused access to the port of Holyhead. About 200 passengers were forced to wait on board for two hours before matters were resolved and they were allowed to disembark.
The chaotic sequence of events began when the company decided without warning to cancel sailings from Holyhead to Dublin and Pembroke to Rosslare yesterday afternoon.
Crew on the Ulysses, which was due to depart from Holyhead, and on the Isle of Inishmore at Pembroke, were told not to take passengers or freight.
They were instructed instead to sail the vessels away from the ports to a destination to be specified when they were at sea.
An Irish Ferries' spokesman said the action was necessary to protect the company's assets in advance of the strike, organised by SIPTU, due to begin today. The strike is over a plan by the company to outsource the crew on its Rosslare to France service next year.
The company had been fearful that the vessels would become "in some way bound up" in the dispute, and had acted early to take control of the situation, the spokesman said.
Officers on board the vessels refused to sail to an unspecified location, however, and the ships remained at Holyhead and Pembroke last night. The company spokesman described this refusal as unofficial industrial action.
However, SIPTU official Mr Paul Smyth said the crews were obliged only to sail on the normal, agreed routes. "Our members were prepared to work as normal, by taking passengers and freight on board and sailing back to Dublin and Rosslare. The company has precipitated this situation and treated its customers in a horrible manner," he said.
With the Ulysses already tied up in Holyhead because of the dispute, the Jonathan Swift was due to arrive at the Welsh port yesterday afternoon. However, Stena Line, which owns the berth used by the Jonathan Swift, refused initially to allow it access to the port, for fear it would also become embroiled in the dispute and keep the berth occupied.
After a delay of two hours, however, the vessel was allowed to enter the port and it returned to Dublin with passengers on board.
It is understood the 370 passengers due to travel to Dublin on the Ulysses were accommodated on a Stena Line service. They included Manchester United supporters, returning home from a football match.
A total of 41 passengers had been due to travel on the cancelled 2.15 p.m. sailing from Pembroke to Rosslare. They were required to travel to Fishguard to board a Stena Line service.
