An interim order restraining 14 Irish Rail workers and others from picketing railway stations throughout the State was issued by the High Court yesterday evening and continues until today.
Mr Justice McCracken said that on the documentation before him it was clear there was no trade dispute and there appeared to be no reason given for what would constitute a trade dispute.
The judge also gave Irish Rail permission to put a notice of the interim injunction outside each of the stations, but he advised that every effort should be made by the company to serve the order personally on the 14 named employees. The injunction also applies to anyone with notice of the order.
The court was told there was no genuine trade dispute between the parties, and it was alleged the 14 defendants had contrived the present situation for their own purposes. Their actions had disrupted rail operations in that Irish Rail staff and other grades and disciplines were refusing to pass the pickets and this had resulted in the cancellation of a number of passenger and freight services.
The company claimed the dispute was putting the entire train service at risk, with potential losses of £200,000 a day.
In an affidavit, Mr Bertie Corbett, Irish Rail passenger service manager (north/east), said he believed the company was the subject of unlawful industrial action initiated yesterday by the 14 men and their co-employees.
Picketing of the entrances of stations and work locations at Connolly, Inchicore, Fairview, and Heuston (Dublin); Kent (Cork), Arklow, Bray, Wicklow, Limerick and Ennis started early yesterday morning, and the 14 named men had been prominent on the picket line.
Mr Corbett said there were pickets on virtually all Irish Rail stations and depots throughout the State. He claimed the 14 men had engaged in acts of trespass and entered the concourses of several railway stations and refused to leave despite requests.
He believed the action was unlawful and Irish Rail had not been served with strike notice. Nor was any specific demand made of the company by the defendants or their colleagues, and they did not have the support of their trade unions.