The one-day stoppage of rail drivers seems certain to go ahead tomorrow, bringing services on the DART and mainline rail to a halt. The unofficial stoppage will cause major inconvenience to commuters and result in traffic chaos in Dublin.
About 300 drivers have threatened to take sick leave and not report for work in protest at what they describe as the lack of progress in the talks on Iarnrod Eireann's viability plan.
They are also annoyed at a recent speech by the chairman of CIE, Mr Brian Joyce, which the drivers claim was telling the unions "how to run their own business".
Despite talks in Dublin yesterday, facilitated by the Labour Relations Commission, the drivers are determined to ahead with their unofficial action. It is not known what support the "choo-choo flu" - as it is being called - will get but there were indications last night that it would be significant, with serious repercussions for commuters.
Mr Tom Coffey, of the Dublin City Centre Business Association, said businesses had lost about £2.5 million when the city closed down for the Tour de France and he estimated that the effect of tomorrow's stoppage could cost £800,000.
A spokesman for the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, said she had been kept apprised of the talks throughout yesterday. While there was some contact between both sides, she "preferred not to comment".
The spokesman confirmed the Minister was due to meet the CIE chairman today. The stoppage is expected to come up at a lunchtime meeting.
Fine Gael's spokeswoman on traffic, Ms Olivia Mitchell TD, said the action would "bring an awful lot of grief, not just to those who use trains and the DART". It would case havoc for road users and it was unacceptable that this should happen at the busiest time of the year for many businesses.
She did not know what the rail workers hoped to achieve by unofficial action, given they would get little public sympathy. "The public have lost patience with public transport anyway. Maybe they hope to put pressure on the Government but no government can allow themselves to be held to ransom by this type of unofficial action."
A spokesman for the drivers said the stoppage was definitely going ahead. "This is a protest based on the remarks of the chairman of CIE last week and the fact that Irish Rail are not treating the negotiations seriously. They are heading towards the Labour Court. If that is the case we have been wasting our time talking to them for the past two years. We feel we are being led down the garden path."
He appealed to drivers in the National Locomotive Drivers Association (NLDA), which claims to represent 120 drivers, to support them.
However, Mr Brendan Ogle , chairman of the NLDA, appealed to all locomotive drivers to report for work, bearing in mind the "irreparable damage" that would be done to their profession in the public mind if the action was to go ahead. He said the NLDA would be holding an emergency meeting of its members tonight to discuss the matter. He said 1998 had been a bad year for Irish industrial relations.
"We urge all train drivers to behave with professionalism and dignity at all times and not to engage in disreputable tactics. The NLDA will always support the right of drivers to defend themselves against attack by any honest and acceptable means."
Iarnrod Eireann's human resources manager, Mr John Keenan, said that after yesterday's talks with the unions there was no need for the one-day stoppage. He said the talks had resulted in a formula which could bring a resumption of negotiations. There was now room for negotiations and for local depot talks.
Mr Peter Bunting, general secretary, National Bus and Railway-workers Union, said the unions would meet on Thursday to discuss their reaction to yesterday's talks. It looked certain that tomorrow's stoppage by the drivers would go ahead.