Claims of a freeze on CIE funding denied

The Department of Public Enterprise today dismissed allegations that CIE funding had been frozen and that job cuts were imminent at the company.

The Department was responding to an allegation by Fine Gael’s Mr Jim Higgins claiming that Iarnrod Eireann had been told by the Department officials at a meeting last Thursday that no funding would be forthcoming to bridge the current €25 million budget deficit.

Mr Higgins claimed the funding freeze would "inevitably lead to a huge lay off in jobs" and that an official announcement was being deliberately held up until after the Election.

However a spokesman from the Department told ireland.com there was absolutely no threat to jobs at the company and it was more likely to be expanding its workforce due to the increased services it was providing.

He said that funding for capital projects as well as annual subvention had significantly increased this year compared with last.

However SIPTU claims the company’s annual costs for 2002 are already €25 million short of budgeted revenue including subvention from the Government.

The Union says the failure of the Government to make up the shortfall will lead to a situation where the entire freight section could be closed with the loss of 350 permanent way workers.

SIPTU says the situation is being deliberately kept under wraps until after the Election.

A spokesperson for Iarnrod Eireann said there had been "nothing unusual" about Thursday’s meeting and that "no significant announcement was pending".

He confirmed the company was predicting a €25 million budget deficit for 2002. He said "no instruction or call had been made on it yet" and that the matter was still under consideration.