CIÉ bus and rail workers have described plans by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, to break up CIÉ as "fanciful" and "bankrupt".

The National Bus and Railworkers Union (NBRU), said it was clear from a report in The Irish Times yesterday, that the break up of the company would cost the taxpayer more than €500 million. The figures were included in a document prepared by the company's management.

NBRU general secretary Mr Liam Tobin has called on Mr Brennan to admit his plans for the break-up of CIÉ are impractical and would cost the taxpayer more than €500 million.

His union has already voted for industrial action over the proposal and, yesterday, SIPTU announced that its members have voted in a similar fashion.

SIPTU national industrial secretary Mr Noel Dowling said the union would serve a month's notice of industrial action on the CIÉ companies, although a meeting would take place on May 28th to decide on the form of action.

The result of the ballot in favour of industrial action was Irish Rail (83 per cent); Dublin Bus (91 per cent) and Bus Éireann (88 per cent).

Mr Tobin said: "The plans will cost a lot of money without putting one extra bus or train in the system. It is time for Mr Brennan to admit his plans to break up CIÉ are not only fanciful, but bankrupt.

"According to a special report presented by senior CIÉ management to the restructuring implementation group, it is clear that breaking up the holding company would add €100 million to dealing with outstanding claims and liabilities alone. It would cost another €215 million to establish Irish Rail as a standalone company and at least €253 million to buy out employees existing terms and conditions," he claimed.

He said the Government would also have to fund pension commitments for staff, which could run into hundreds of millions. He said the calculations also did not include writing off shared services such as CIÉ's IT systems.

Mr Brennan has said he was prepared to sell CIÉ's land bank and use it to pay for a transitional fund, which would cover the costs of breaking up CIÉ.

However, Mr Tobin rejected this yesterday.

"We know the minister would like to sell off CIÉ's property bank to pay for all this, but even that would not meet the costs. Besides, the property bank effectively underwites the CIÉ pension fund and Mr Brennan could find himself in serious legal trouble if he tried to raid the fund for other purposes," he said.

"I understand that the Department of Finance is far from happy with Mr Brennan's fanciful plans for breaking up CIÉ," Mr Tobin added.

While Mr Tobin and his union appear to be on a collision course with Mr Brennan, he left the door open for talks.

"It is time he faced up to reality and started discussing solutions to the transport crisis with the unions, and the other stakeholders, instead of indulging in a non-stop media circus. Sound bites are no substitute for a properly thought-out transport strategy," said Mr Tobin.