Rail commuters could face widespread disruption again next week because of renewed industrial action by train drivers over union recognition.
The ATGWU has served strike notice on Iarnrod Eireann on behalf of more than 100 members in its Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association branch for a series of one-day stoppages beginning next Tuesday.
Intensive informal discussions were beginning last night to try to avert the stoppages, which are planned for nine days this month.
It is also possible that the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court will become involved because of their role in ending the 10week strike by ILDA drivers last summer.
If the strike goes ahead, train drivers at Dundalk, Drogheda and two Dublin depots, Connolly and Fairview, are to place pickets next Tuesday, causing disruption to mainline east-coast services, the northern suburban line and the DART.
Further strikes at these depots are planned for May 16th and May 22nd.
Pickets will be placed on Inchicore depot and Cork, Mallow, Waterford, Limerick, Athlone and Portlaoise stations on May 9th, 15th and 21st.
These will disrupt services to Munster and the west, as well as the Arrow suburban service in Dublin. Sligo, Ballina, Wesport and Mullingar depots will be picketed on May 10th, May 14th and May 23rd, disrupting services in the midlands and north-west.
The level of disruption will depend to some extent on how many drivers in SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union refuse to pass the pickets.
Even if they work normally, the strike will cause widespread disruption on all nine days.
It was unclear yesterday if ATGWU craftworkers in the Inchicore depot would pass the pickets. They were not balloted for strike action and have expressed opposition in the past to ILDA affiliating to the union.
The ATGWU's Irish secretary, Mr Mick O'Reilly, said yesterday that his union had been "left with no alternative but to go ahead with a nationwide strike following failure to reach agreement with senior management of the company on representation rights for our members".
He added that the ATGWU would co-operate "with any third-party intervention that may bring a satisfactory solution to this dispute".
However, the human re sources manager of Iarnrod Eireann, Mr John Keenan, said: "The problem is a trade union problem and is a problem of reconciling disaffected members of trade unions to the formal structures. The unions should go through due process and Mr O'Reilly should back off while this happens."
The general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr Peter Cassells, has also called on the ATGWU to abide by the procedures of congress and take no strike action pending a decision by ICTU's disputes committee on who should represent the train drivers.
All of the drivers are former members of SIPTU and the NBRU, which are disputing their right to transfer to the ATGWU.
Under congress rules this inter-union dispute has to be resolved before the ATGWU can claim to represent ILDA drivers.
Failure to abide by the rules could lead to the ATGWU's expulsion from congress.