There were three industrial disputes in progress in the second quarter of 2018 involving 888 workers and three firms resulting in an estimated 1,923 days lost, figures from the Central Statistics Office.

One of the main points of conflict was Ryanair, which has been in a long-running dispute with pilots and other staff over work conditions. The budget airline was forced to cancel a number of flights last month on foot of a number of one-day stoppages by pilots.

The CSO’s latest numbers, however, suggest the level of industrial unrest in the State was not as significant as in previous quarters.

There were three disputes for the same period last year involving 2,417 workers and resulting in 20,312 days lost.

This was on foot of a three-week strike at Bus Éireann, which resulted in widespread transport disruption across the State.

The CSO numbers also suggested that the financial, insurance and real estate activities sector accounted for more than 75 per cent of total days lost in the second quarter of 2018.