The rail dispute

Sir, - I was heartened to see that in a situation where an unrecognised group working in public transport withdraw their labour…

Sir, - I was heartened to see that in a situation where an unrecognised group working in public transport withdraw their labour in protest at (agreed) changes in rostering, the resulting lack of service for thousands of commuters could be dealt with in eight hours.

However, in my euphoria, I failed to realise there is an essential difference between the commuters caught in this situation yesterday and others such as myself caught in the ILDA dispute. It is, of course, that the bus passengers were Dublin dwellers, clearly far more valuable to the economy (and incidentally, given the relative depth of coverage, far more newsworthy) than the Kildare, Meath or Louth people for whom the Arrow service normally operates.

In this spirit, I appeal to Brendan Ogle to immediately recruit DART drivers to his band of merry men, for it seems that only when the massive inconvenience caused to thousands of non-Dublin dwellers hits south Dublin will the situation be taken seriously. - Yours, etc.,

Brian M. Lucey, Sallins, Co Kildare.