CURRENT ACCOUNT: Why won't the Government say anything about the scandal at Rhode, Co Offaly, where 100 staff are clocking in every day at a power station that has not produced electricity for 18 months?

With a wages bill of €60,000 per week, the "workers" are holding out for compensation for stress linked to asbestos exposure even though most of them are not sick. This was ruled out, but the staff are holding the ESB to ransom because any lock-out would prompt an electricity strike.

Staff have been offered a very generous package, yet the Rhode crew continue with the wheeze that stress equals a right to special compensation. This might appeal to stressed-out workers who actually work, but only in la-la land would it run. Rightly, the ESB says it will compensate those who become ill due to asbestos. Yet despite following the industrial relations process, the affair is nearer absurdity than resolution.

Closure was sanctioned in a tripartite pact between the ESB, its unions and the Government. The time is nigh for intervention higher up the ladder. Failing that, Rhode should be shut down forthwith. The staff there are being indulged at the cost of their colleagues and of ESB customers in every household in the State.