Train services between Dublin, Belfast, Rosslare and Sligo will be severely disrupted from this morning as open-ended official strike action by drivers gets under way. Dublin's outer suburban services to Dundalk, Drogheda and Maynooth are also affected, while there will be only a limited service to Galway.
DART services are not affected, nor are trains to Cork, Kerry and Limerick, and there is no immediate threat of the strike spreading to these routes.
Only Northern Ireland Railways will operate the Enterprise service between Belfast and Dublin today, providing five instead of eight trains. About half of the outer suburban service will operate between Dundalk, Drogheda and Dublin.
There will be no suburban service to Maynooth and no mainline service to Sligo. Trains will operate between Sligo, Mullingar and Edgeworthstown.
The 7.20 a.m. train from Rosslare will run as far as Greystones and return at 9.36 a.m. Other Rosslare trains will only operate to Enniscorthy or Arklow. Only the 5.30 a.m. and 3.25 p.m. Galway trains will travel to Dublin. Other trains will only go to Athlone or Clara. Services from Westport and Ballina will operate to Athlone.
It remained unclear last night how long the strike might last. The dispute centres on company proposals to amalgamate Connolly No 1 and No 2 depots in Dublin, where 67 of the company's 300 mainline diesel drivers are based.
This is part of a national plan by Iarnrod Eireann to introduce annualised hours contracts for over 300 diesel-train drivers. The package also allows for the introduction of a five-day week in place of the current six- and seven-day working pattern.
The company's head of human resources, Mr John Keenan, said last night the refusal of the drivers to opt for the new standardised 48-hour week contract would mean the company having to employ 84 drivers instead of 68. He had offered to employ 72 drivers, but the men had refused to ballot on the issue.
He said the cost of employing an extra 12 drivers at £27,500 each was not sustainable.
SIPTU's rail branch secretary, Mr Tony Tobin, said the unions had done everything possible to reach an agreement. They had not balloted members because there was no point. The company had been allowed to offer the new contracts to drivers on an individual basis, and only four had availed of the option.