With a serious threat of disruption to October Bank Holiday weekend travel, talks to avert tomorrow's strike by more than 300 level-crossing keepers are to resume this morning.
If the strike goes ahead inter-city services will be severely disrupted on one of the busiest Fridays of the year. Between 80,000 and 100,000 commuters are expected to use Iarnrod Eireann services over the bank holiday weekend.
There was some progress in talks yesterday, according to the company's human resources manager, Mr John Keenan. "But I would not be overly optimistic that we will reach a successful conclusion," he said last night.
SIPTU, which represents the 314 level-crossing keepers affected, is seeking to increase their basic pay from £1.25p per hour to £4.40p, the proposed national minimum wage. Although the company has offered pay rises worth between £35 and £40 a week, SIPTU's chief negotiator, Mr Tony Tobin, says this is totally inadequate.
The company offered yesterday to ensure level-crossing keepers receive one rest day a week and committed itself to a review group to study their working conditions. It is also willing to backdate their pay rise to July 1st of this year.
One of the SIPTU negotiators is Mr Paul McDonagh (51), resident gate-keeper at Ballymacfrane, near Roscommon town. He says he works "24 hours a day, seven days a week, for 341 days a year". The only reason he could attend yesterday's meeting of SIPTU gatekeepers was because his wife Rita was operating the crossing for him.
He is demanding a 72-hour week, which would mean a 12-hour day and one day a week off.
The biggest perk of the job is that the rent for Mr McDonagh's house is only 10p a week. "But if anything happens to me, if I get a heart attack or a stroke, I'm ousted and Roscommon County Council, or someone, will have to house me," he says.
His house is in good repair, but Mr McDonagh says this is only because he argued his case. "Some people aren't able to, or are afraid they'll be thrown out, or they're old," he says. Non-resident gatekeepers often have to make do with a container for accommodation while they are working.
He accepts that many people consider his job an easy one but says that his hours are totally at the mercy of the train schedules.
Six passenger trains pass through regularly each day, with extra trains laid on at weekends. Friday and Sunday are particularly busy.
"In between passenger trains there are two timber trains and a ballast train can run at any time. Ballast trains carry supplies for work on repairs detected by rail cars. The latter detect faults and also run at regular but unscheduled times."
Each night there are four freight trains, whose times can also vary. "I literally can't leave the crossing," Mr McDonagh says.
"They can tell you there's a rail car coming down or timber and after an hour you can ring to ask where the train is and they'll say, `We can't find a driver.' People have been dismissed for leaving a gate unattended."
Gates are graded by a marks system. Mr McDonagh's gate has 40 marks, the highest score available. Yet, he says, his basic rate of pay is still only £1.25p an hour. The company says it is also willing to review the marks system.