Limerick
Members of the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association (ILDA) staged a three-hour picket at a level crossing outside Limerick yesterday morning, which delayed two Dublin passenger trains.
The drivers said they had escalated a peaceful protest to highlight the lack of response from Iarnrod Eireann management. The residents on the by-road, four miles outside Limerick and off the Tipperary Road, woke up to see their townland of Killonan have its moment of fame. The signal man due to start working his shift at 6.30 a.m. declined to pass the picket.
The 6.45 a.m. Limerick to Dublin train was delayed for an hour-and-a-half until the station master from Colbert Station arrived to operate the signal and the barriers.
The 7.45 a.m. passenger train was delayed for half an hour, and a freight train collecting shale for the cement factory at Mungret was also delayed. Normal service resumed after 9.30 a.m.
Mr Mick Shine, one of the ILDA members, said the dispute was not about winning a PR battle. "We are here to win a trade dispute. Whatever action we take, we are going to displease the public.
"We are here to tell them this morning that it is far from being in its death throes."
He said the decision to place the picket at the level crossing had been taken the previous evening, without the knowledge of executive members of ILDA. "We are all on our own here. We are isolated. We have an executive member in our group but he is not here. He does not know anything about this."
Mr Dessie Donovan, another protester, said the dispute would be over in the morning "if they just talked to us".
They emphasised that they had not blocked the road or the rail line but had mounted a protest at the barrier gates. Gardai from Roxboro Garda station in Limerick, were on the scene at 7 a.m., and were satisfied that no illegal activity had taken place.
"If anything comes out of this today, there will be no further protests. It is as simple as that," Mr Brian Bennett said. A third-generation train driver, he is getting married in 10 weeks. "There are over 100 years of my family in that railway," he said.
Connacht
Galway's train service was hit for the first time in weeks yesterday as a result of the lightning picket at Heuston Station in Dublin.
Staffing for the 7.20 a.m. Dublin to Galway service was affected by the picket, and the intercity train with up to 500 seats had to be replaced by a commuter train with 110 seats. No passengers were put out by the change at that time of the day, according to Iarnrod Eireann.
However, the 11 a.m. service from Galway to Dublin was affected, as there were too many passengers for the commuter train returning to Heuston. Three buses were used to take the extra passengers, but some commuters were angered at the disruption. One man refused to get on a bus at all. Other services throughout the day between Galway and Dublin ran as normal, according to Iarnrod Eireann.
Co Mayo still bears the brunt of the strike in the west, with almost no train service to and from Westport and Ballina in seven weeks. Commuters are bussed to and from Athlone to the Mayo stations, but at considerable hardship, and with serious social and economic implications, according to Mr Peter Shanley of the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland West Region.
Some 12,000 passengers were lost to Co Mayo during the first six weeks of the strike, according to Mr Shanley, with more this past week at the height of the tourist season. "The ILDA has rights, but it also has responsibilities," Mr Shanley said. "The victim here is the passenger, not Iarnrod Eireann."
Cork
Iarnrod Eireann reported a busy day yesterday in Cork, with all trains that did run being heavily booked. However, approximate figures suggested that traffic was down by around 50 per cent compared to a normal August Bank Holiday weekend.
According to an Iarnrod Eireann spokesman, the company would usually have nine trains in and out of Cork, each carrying around 500 passengers, but the ILDA action reduced this to six trains in from Dublin and four trains out from Cork.
"It was a busy day for us - all trains that ran to Dublin were heavily booked and all those we expected to run did so, although we lost one train in and out on the commuter line to Cobh and we had to bring those people by bus instead," he said.
The Iarnrod Eireann spokesman confirmed that all three trains due to take 1,400 hurling fans to the All-Ireland hurling semi-final between Cork and Offaly tomorrow were still scheduled to run as planned.
Tickets for the three trains sold out within 55 minutes of going on sale earlier this week, the Iarnrod Eireann spokesman said, adding that two of the special trains will leave Cork and one will leave Mallow, stopping at Charleville.