Airport strikes set to cause chaos

COMMUTERS face transport chaos next Thursday after SIPTU yesterday confirmed strikes at Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports in addition to a 24-hour stoppage hitting bus and rail services.

Hundreds of thousands of citizens will be affected, as will tourists who are in Ireland for Wednesday's St Patrick's Day festivities.

Thursday's disruption could affect everyone from Government ministers returning from St Patrick's Day visits overseas to punters flying out to Cheltenham for the prestigious Gold Cup horse race.

SIPTU's staff at the three airports will hold a six-hour stoppage from 7.30am to 1.30pm in protest at Government plans to break up Aer Rianta, with further stoppages planned for April 2, 20 and 26.

The move was announced yesterday following a meeting of the strike committee.

SIPTU had announced on Tuesday the 24-hour stoppage by its 6,000 members at Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann over plans to break up CIÉ and privatise a quarter of Dublin's bus routes.

The stoppage could have a severe impact on the company's finances.

The stoppages at the airports, meanwhile, could hit not only regular passengers but State and EU affairs.

At least two Government ministers are due to return to Ireland on Thursday from overseas trips for St Patrick's Day, while education ministers from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development member states are also scheduled to fly in for an EU presidency meeting.

Transport Minister Seamus Brennan last night publicly appealed to the union to call off the "unjustified" strikes, urging SIPTU to return to talks on the future of both companies.

But it is understood he will not attempt to privately reach out to the union, and will instead place the onus on it to back down in the face of pressure.

However, SIPTU said it had already deferred industrial action many times and that Thursday's strikes were aimed at disrupting Ireland's EU presidency and not the public.

But business groups claimed the union's intention was to disrupt as many people as possible.

The chief executive of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME), Mark Fielding, described the decision to strike as "ludicrous".

"The timing, the day after St Patrick's Day, has obviously been scheduled to cause as much embarrassment as possible to the Government at a time when many foreign guests will be in the country," he added.