Further disruption of train services seems likely unless talks between drivers and Iarnrod Eireann can be arranged.
A one-day stoppage by drivers went ahead yesterday despite an offer by the chairman of the Labour Relations Commission, Mr Kieran Mulvey, to convene discussions between the drivers and management tomorrow if the drivers called off the action.
The offer was made late on Friday and at that time Mr Mulvey made it clear to the drivers that if any action took place, all Iarnrod Eireann talks would be suspended. The withdrawal of services by the National Locomotive Drivers' Committee caused chaos on intercity services. However, DART services in Dublin were unaffected, with all drivers turning up for work as normal.
Services returned to normal from midnight though Iarnrod Eireann warned that some early-morning services could be very busy.
Only four of the drivers rostered for service on inter-city lines reported for work yesterday morning and only four trains ran as scheduled.
These included a special train from Waterford to Thurles for the Munster hurling final. Other trains ran between Rosslare and Arklow and Dublin and Dundalk. On a normal Sunday about half of the 310 long-distance drivers employed by the company are rostered for work. Mr Brendan Ogle, chairman of the NLDC, said the action was a manifestation of the frustration which had been building up among train drivers for the past four years. He said he could understand the frustration of the travelling public who were deprived of services yesterday but asked them to consider the factors which had led the drivers to take their action. He pointed out the drivers had been denied an opportunity to negotiate with Iarnrod Eireann on its plans for the future. The first available date offered to them was August 17th. Mr Ogle said, despite the almost unanimous response to the call for action yesterday, the NLDC did not regard the disruption of services as a success.
"It was a defeat for everyone concerned. We are anxious to have meaningful negotiations and hope that someone will intervene and convene talks. We want negotiations to begin as soon as possible and are not setting any preconditions," he said. Mr Ogle added it would have been counter-productive to go to his committee on Saturday without a firm commitment from the LRC that the talks offered by Iarnrod Eireann for 17th August would be brought forward. A spokesman for Iarnrod Eireann apologised to all who had suffered because of the disruption.
He said the company had used local radio to inform the public of the disruption of scheduled trains and hoped those wishing to travel had not been unduly inconvenienced. He added the NLDC is an unofficial body with no negotiating status and that the drivers' unions - SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union - had instructed them to report to work as usual yesterday and the drivers had ignored this request. A spokesman for the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Ms O'Rourke, said she was very anxious that there would be no disruption of train services. She regretted the drivers had gone ahead with the one-day stoppage even though talks had been arranged for Tuesday through the Labour Relations Commission late on Friday.
The decision of the drivers not to report to work would make it more difficult for talks to take place. Mr Mulvey had suggested that the meeting offered for tomorrow would draw up an agenda for the drivers' discussions; identify the time required to deal with that agenda; and set the earliest possible date for the discussions.