A private bus company offering to take punters to the Galway Races this week stumbled at the first hurdle after action by drivers from Bus Éireann.
Gardaí were called to Eyre Square on Tuesday when Bus Éireann drivers blocked buses operated by Nestor's and refused to allow them to depart.
They complained that the private operator did not have a licence to run a service to the racecourse at Ballybrit.
Nestor's said it was entitled to carry passengers under its "travel club" scheme and that no licence for the service was required.
It did, however, apply for a licence on Tuesday, which was approved by the Department of Transport and supplied to the company by fax on Wednesday.
This in turn has angered the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU), whose general secretary, Mr Liam Tobin, questioned yesterday how a company could secure a licence from the Department in such a short space of time.
A spokeswoman for the Department, however, said there was nothing unusual in licences being issued overnight for special events, such as the Galway Races. The licence only remained in place for the duration of the event, she said.
Mr Pat Nestor, the owner of the private bus company, said it was responding to a demand for its service. "We've had good crowds using the service to the races, so the support is there."
Mr Tobin said members were very angry and the union had had a difficult time calming the situation. "The last thing we would have wanted to do is disrupt the service to the Galway Races and we convinced our members that it would not be in their interests to do so."
He accused the Department, however, of acting in a provocative fashion.
The NBRU and other CIÉ unions are opposing plans to break up the company and introduce increased competition by private operators.