Rail services get back on track after stoppages

After two days of travel gridlock across the country — with many people having to add a number of hours to their normal commuting times — train services will get back to normal today, albeit only for the next fortnight.

Almost 100,000 commuters would normally have used the train services yesterday. Huge numbers had to take to the roads either on buses or in their own cars as Irish Rail staff once again grounded services over the company’s decision to press ahead with temporary pay cuts without agreement.

From last weekend, staff earning up to €56,000 saw their pay reduced by 1.7%. That rose to a maximum of 6.1% for those earning more than €100,000. The cuts, recommended by the Labour Court, are to last for 28 months.

Protesting workers yesterday manned picket lines at locations throughout the rail network, including all the major stations in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway, throughout the day.

The Government has said the best way of finding a solution is either the Labour Relations Commission or the Labour Court, though neither has been able to establish enough common ground between the sides over the last 20 months.

If an accommodation cannot be found in the next two weeks, commuters will once again find themselves having to look for alternate transport, including many of the roughly 80,000 Kilkenny and Tipperary fans heading for the All-Ireland hurling final on September 7.

The unions at the heart of the dispute, Siptu and the National Bus and Rail Union, once again insisted the Government must do more to address the crippling financial difficulties facing the company, as well as saying they did not trust that cuts to their members’ incomes would be temporary.

Dermot O’Leary of the National Bus and Rail Union said: “The Government have a role to play here in terms of subvention. That is money required to run a public service. People lose sight of the fact this is a public service.”

Siptu official Paul Cullen said: “Our members do not believe that the cuts they are being asked to take will be the last they will be expected to endure.

“Due to the cuts in funding to the rail service the company is operating with a deficit of approximately €60m. There is no indication that the National Transport Authority or Department of Transport have any plans on how to offset this deficit other than expecting Irish Rail staff to endure further cuts.”

Mr Cullen said the solution to this dispute rests with management reversing its decision to cut workers’ wages and entering into serious talks with workers’ representatives about the future of Irish Rail.

“If this does not happen Siptu members in Irish Rail will conduct a further 48-hour work stoppage on September 7, and a 24-hour stoppage on September 21,” Mr Cullen said.

In the event that the dispute is not resolved by that point both sides have said their action could escalate, with the NBRU saying its executive council will meet on September 23 to decide on further action.