A union representing rail workers has blamed the Government and Irish Rail for a strike that will disrupt some 160,000 passengers.
The planned national train strike due to take place tomorrow and Monday seems certain to go ahead with no last minute interventions expected to try to avert the stoppage.
Iarnród Éireann said it anticipated that no train services - including inter-city, commuter or Dart - would operate on both days as a result of industrial action by members of Siptu and the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) in protest at the unilateral implementation of temporary pay cuts for staff.
NBRU general secretary Dermot O’Leary said today it was “ regrettable” that the impact of the company’s decision to cut its members’ wages would be widely felt by those who use the train as a mode of transport.
“In making their decision, the company - supported it would appear by the Minister (for Transport Paschal Donohoe)have chosen to ignore the concerns of staff in relation to the future of the railway.”
“Funding for public transport is a responsibility of government, not staff,” he said.
“The Minister - who is after all the shareholder - needs to involve himself in addressing the underlying issues at play here.
“It is clear that you cannot strip out funding from a public service and expect that it would continue to operate at anything approaching the levels which currently obtain.”
Mr O’Leary said staff did not have “trust or confidence in either the company or the Government with regard to the future sustainability of rail in this country”.
“Asking them to plug a funding gap is not a sustainable platform from which to provide a public transport system.”
About 60,000 people will be affected by the planned train strike tomorrow and 100,000 on Monday. The strike will particularly hit fans attending the All Ireland senior footbal semi final between Mayo and Kerry.
Mr Donohoe urged that the strikes should not goahead. He said, however, he would not be intervening personally in the dispute.
The Minister said the State had industrial relations machinery - such as the Labour Relations Commission - for dealing with such disputes and any intervention by him would undermine their role.
These agencies were monitoring the situation and would “engage at the appropriate time”, he said.
The Minister said a decision by the unions to proceed with the strike would make the situation worse at the State-owned train operator.
The Irish Times reported on Thursday that the company is set to lose €500,000 in its State allocation as a result of services being cancelled on Sunday and Monday.
If other planned stoppages in September go ahead the company could lose up to €1.2 million.
However Mr Donohoe said he would propose no further reduction in the State’s subvention to Iarnród Éireann for next year.
The level of State funding has fallen considerably during the economic crisis.
However the Minister said yesterday he could not provide additional money to offset wage cuts which had already been implemented in other parts of the CIEgroup.
Iarnród Éireannsaid it would run out of money by the middle of next year if its financial difficulties were not addressed.
The company said it had no option but to implement the pay cuts, which range from 1.7 to 6 per cent.
Fianna Fail spokesman on transport Timmy Dooley said the Minister "should be encouraging and facilitating further discussions between management and unions and ensuring that these strikes do not go ahead".
“I once again call for a concerted effort to be made to get the two sides in this dispute back to the talks table to hammer out a resolution to this row. As I have stated previously, nothing will be achieved through industrial action and strikes, which only serve to anger customers, and in this case GAA fans.”
