Treasury Minister Dr Alex Allinson states he has not had a meeting with the Nautilus International union since December 15, 2023.

Dr Allinson was asked what meetings he had held with the union at Tuesday’s Tynwald sitting, amidst the ongoing negotiations between Nautilus and the Steam Packet over its employee’s contract terms.

Dr Allinson said: ‘I’ve had no meetings with the Nautilus union since December 15, 2023. I can confirm the meeting was held between myself, the Chief Financial Officer, and Nautilus union representatives via Microsoft Teams, but the chief minister was not present.

‘During the meeting, the Nautilus union shared their views and provided an appraisal of the situation as it stood at that time.

‘Nautilus International representatives had previously been on the island and requested a meeting. Unfortunately, I was not on the island at the time. The use of a virtual meeting via teams was the only way to get us all together in the same place at the same time. If they are on the island again in the future and want to meet with me, I’ll be more than happy to do so.’

A supplementary question by Tim Glover, MHK for Arbory, Castletown and Malew, enquired whether Dr Allinson agreed that it would be preferable for a representative shareholder to be present during negotiations.

Dr Allinson replied: ‘Treasury’s involvement with the Steam Packet has been clearly set out. I understand that a lot of the officers involved in the current dispute are based on the Isle of Man, and many of them have contacted me and other honourable members, but what we’re dealing with at the moment is an industrial dispute which has been organised absolutely according to the point of law.’