The Taoiseach criticised the rail strikes. "I deplore the industrial action taking place in CIE. It is manifestly unnecessary and it is causing severe hardship," Mr Ahern said.

"It could easily have been avoided, and almost was avoided last week. When I spoke to the social partners on Thursday about matters, I raised these matters on the side and they believed they had been resolved."

Mr Ahern said the action was at variance with the commitments to industrial peace and stability in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, to which people involved in the dispute were a party.

"More significantly, however, it is a flagrant breach of agreed procedures within the trade union movement, as has been pointed out by the Congress of Trade Unions' leadership.

"The orderly conduct of industrial relations is essential to our well-being, quite apart from the implications for the PPF. Without it, we would have anarchy and the public and the economy would suffer, ultimately damaging jobs and competitiveness.

The Taoiseach said that if agreed procedures were not adhered to, there would be a national strike involving all SIPTU workers.

Mr Ahern was responding to the Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, who said that on the second day of the dispute, with 100,000 people stranded on Tuesday, and 25,000 stranded yesterday in Munster, and people not getting to work or hospital for essential medical appointments, it was time for the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, to abandon the head-in-the-sand approach.

Mr Ahern said he had supported the ICTU code for many years and would continue to do so. "I have no intention of breaking principles agreed by the social partners. I will not support the actions of the ATGWU, which are in breach of an agreement between CIE, the ICTU and SIPTU.

"If I did support those actions, I would damage the social partnership. The ATGWU is wrong in this instance; it is in breach of the congress code, of the understandings reached by the other parties and of the rights of SIPTU. I will not do anything to help the ATGWU, but I will support the Congress of Trade Unions in terms of the position it has adopted."

Mr Noonan said the Government had reached a crisis, and it was its responsibility, and that of the social partners, to avoid such situations.

Mr Ahern said he was calling on the ATGWU "to call off this destructive action and to resolve the issues in question with the other unions concerned through the agreed procedures".

The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, called on the Government to take decisive action to ensure that CIE was adequately resourced to deal with issues that had come to the surface once again.

Mr Trevor Sargent (Green Party, Dublin North) said his party remained to be convinced that the Taoiseach had a policy in mind other than that of non-intervention.