CIE is to hold an emergency board meeting tomorrow at the request of its worker directors. They are protesting at a decision of the Government to finance the company's £430 million rail safety programme through the sale of company property.
The National Bus and Railworkers' Union has sought an immediate meeting with the Minister for Public Transport, Ms O'Rourke, to discuss the situation. Its general secretary, Mr Peter Bunting, said yesterday he wanted to "clarify the situation over borrowing" with Ms O'Rourke.
There could be no "quick-fix solution" through the sale of assets, he said. "We want to know the long-term investment plans for the company."
NBRU worker director Mr Mick Faherty said only the Minister could establish exactly where the Government stood. The unions had understood that, once viability plans had been agreed for CIE's subsidiaries, fare increases and extra Government investment would be made available.
The board meeting was sought by Mr Bill McCamley and Mr Paul Cullen, of SIPTU, and Ms Ann-Marie Mannix of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association. In a statement yesterday they described the decision to make CIE fund investment in the rail safety programme through the sale of assets as "a retrograde step".
They said they were surprised, "given the emphasis which is rightly placed on the social partnership concept, that Minister O'Rourke has chosen to ignore the composite proposal made to her by CIE management and its trade unions, which allowed for the sale of large parcels of non-operational lands in return for commercial freedom". The Government was condemning CIE "to the role of perpetual beggar" by its policy.
However, the Government view is that CIE should sell unused lands quickly to maximise on the current property boom.