Irish Fertilizer Industries is to reopen its Arklow plant. The company took the decision yesterday on the basis that deliveries of ammonia by train from its Cork facility at Marino Point will resume.
The 200-strong workforce at Arklow was laid off two weeks ago because of disruptions to supplies caused by the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association (ILDA) dispute.
The Arklow plant manager, Mr Bill Flood, said the company hoped to get back to normal production by Tuesday. Some staff will be recalled over the weekend and all 200 employees should be back by Monday.
Meanwhile, the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland board is to seek further legal advice on whether member chambers and their affiliates should take a class action against the ILDA because of losses during the five-week-old dispute. After yesterday's board meeting the CCI is to ask all 55 chambers to approach their 11,000 member companies to see what losses are being sustained.
Although a number of companies have reported a fall-off in business, the CCI is only aware of one small company that may close in the near future because of the dispute. The biggest losses sustained have been by Iarnrod Eireann itself, which is losing an estimated £120,000 a day, down from £150,000 a day at the beginning of the dispute. However the company appears to be maintaining its softly-softly approach for the moment in the hope of weaning more ILDA members back to work.
IFI worker director Mr Tom Morrissey who held abortive discussions with the ILDA last week, welcomed the announcement that the plant would reopen. "Hopefully Iarnrod Eireann will supply us with the two trains a day that we need to keep going and we won't be caught up in this dispute again," he said. With rail services on most other routes at, or near, normal levels it remains to be seen how long the ILDA will hold out for recognition. Its refusal to operate the new rosters is having diminishing effects. No comment was available yesterday from the ILDA on the reopening of the Arklow plant.