The leadership of the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association is to meet the four Independent TDs this week, according to the executive secretary of the association.
Mr Brendan Ogle said yesterday his members planned to "debunk once and for all the myth that there is a legal impediment to resolving the dispute with the ILDA".
In meeting the Independents, his members hope to persuade them to put pressure on the Government to intervene in the dispute, which is in its eighth week.
The ILDA is meeting the Killarney Rail Action Group (KRAG), a consortium of bodies in the Kerry region concerned about the commercial impact the dispute is having on the county, this evening. The Independent Kerry TD, Mr Jackie Healy-Rae, will also attend the meeting.
Interdepartmental documents obtained by the ILDA under the Freedom of Information Act, as well as written legal opinion from Mr John Rogers SC, will be put before the KRAG at today's meeting.
The chairman of the KRAG, Mr Neilus Moriarty, said he had requested the meeting in order to put the same points to Mr Ogle as the group had put to the Minister and to Iarnrod Eireann.
Mr Healy-Rae confirmed at the weekend that he and his three Independent colleagues had also asked to meet the ILDA to clarify its legal status.
"We were led to believe by the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms Mary O'Rourke, that it was against the High Court decision to even talk to these people and that it would cause terrible damage," he said.
However, he said the ILDA had told him its members would return to work if they were allowed to work their old rosters and that he would be asking Ms O'Rourke and Iarnrod Eireann whether the Minister was following High Court instructions. Ms O'Rourke has insisted she cannot intervene in the dispute.
"This `everybody-is-out-of-line-except-us' approach is typical of the ILDA," said an Iarnrod Eireann spokesman. "The High Court ruling is clear and it still stands. Mr Ogle may try and meet people and try to convince people, but that does not change the legal situation. We've had legal advice, the LRC has taken legal advice and I'm sure the Government has."
Meanwhile, all trains on the reduced schedule ran as expected yesterday, at the end of the bank holiday weekend. The Cork and Limerick line again had the most reduced service, with about half the usual number of trains running. Services are expected to run as scheduled today, with a full service on the Galway, Rosslare, Sligo and Belfast lines, as well as on the Maynooth and Arklow commuter lines and the DART.
The Cork, Tralee, Limerick, Westport and Waterford lines will be operating reduced services. A two-thirds service will operate on suburban lines between Dublin, Drogheda and Dundalk. Seven services will run from Kildare to Heuston, with eight in the other direction.
Intending passengers should contact Iarnrod Eireann for details on 1850 366222, or log on to www.irishrail.ie