Restructure Proposals

Irish Continental Group PLC
20 October 2004

                            IRISH CONTINENTAL GROUP

                          STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT

           Irish Continental Group plc announces restructuring of its
                          Ireland-France ferry service



Irish Continental Group plc announces that its Ferries Division is restructuring
its service between Ireland and France in order to reduce costs and maintain
competitiveness. The action is being taken against a background in which the
volume of cars carried on the Ireland / France route has fallen 7% in the year
to date compared with 2003.



The initiative, which is a consequence of demand in the market place for lower
fares, together with additional competition from sea and air carriers, in some
cases State-assisted, will see crewing of our Ireland / France service
transferred to a third party staffing agency who will employ fully qualified EU
crew.  It follows a restructuring of crew rosters, principally on the Irish Sea,
during 2004, which has enhanced competitiveness on the Ireland / UK routes.  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.



This development complements other initiatives being implemented including the
streamlining of the sales distribution process (which involves the relocation of
our call centre / retail outlet from Dublin's city centre), a further
concentration on maximising bookings via the internet and other cost reducing
initiatives throughout the group including Dublin terminal operations.



The various initiatives will give rise to an exceptional charge to be taken in
the results of the group for the year to 31 December 2004.  The amount will
depend, inter alia, on the profile of those opting for voluntary severance but
it is likely to be in the region of €7 million.

                           _________________________

20th October 2004



Enquiries:          Don Hall, The Hall Company           Tel: [phone]


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