Public transport users face further serious disruption unless meaningful negotiations take place on the future of the sector, union leaders warned yesterday.
However, a spokesman for the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, said he would not be deflected from his plans for the industry by yesterday's four-hour strike by bus and rail workers.
He stressed the Minister was available to negotiate with the unions and was "anxious to sit down with them fairly soon".
No meetings had been arranged by last night, however, and, given the apparent determination on both sides, further confrontation appears likely.
Thousands of Iarnród Éireann, Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus workers left their posts from 11 a.m. yesterday to protest over what they claimed was the Minister's failure to consult them about his plans to dismantle CIÉ and privatise some services.
In Dublin, about 2,000 members of SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU)marched behind a lone piper from Parnell Square to the Minister's office on Kildare Street, where they delivered a letter of protest.
From there, they marched to Heuston Station where Mr Noel Dowling, of SIPTU, raised a loud cheer when he said if Mr Brennan was going to take the unions on, "he came to the right place for a fight".
"We know there's change coming. But we've asked for change in an orderly way that protects the living standards and, indeed, the very jobs of our members. It's not too much to ask," he said.
Mr Brennan's spokesman said last night that the Minister had emphasised that the only workers directly affected by his plans, the 400-odd staff employed by CIÉ, would be redeployed to one of the three transport companies. "There is no threat on the jobs front," he said.
It was still the Minister's intention, he said, to have up to 25 per cent of the Dublin bus market opened to competition by early next year.
The plan, first announced by the Minister in November, is that companies including Dublin Bus will be able to compete for franchises to service the routes concerned.
An independent transport regulator is to be set up to administer the system and decide on franchises.
Unions are angry that Mr Brennan has proceeded with privatisation of some routes, having promised in writing in December to consult them about his plans.
New licences have since been issued to two private operators in Dublin, while Bus Éireann has been told to stop running an early morning service from Cavan to Dublin, following the issuing of a licence to a private enterprise.
Mr Liam Tobin, the NBRU general secretary, said if the Minister issued any further licences to private operators without consultation, unions would repeat the action of yesterday and possibly escalate it.
Yesterday's strike was condemned as "highly irresponsible" by the employers' body, IBEC.
"At a time when we are losing over 500 jobs each week in Ireland, it is inexcusable that any action be taken that could disrupt the conduct of business and put jobs at risk", said the organisation's director of enterprise, Mr Brendan Butler.
Labour's transport spokeswoman, Ms Roisín Shortall, accused the Minister of adopting an "arrogant and unilateral approach".
She said the workers, however, had now "made their point" and should accept Mr Brennan's "belated offer of talks".
