Iarnrod Eireann drops injunction proceedings against rail picketers

Iarnrod Eireann yesterday dropped its High Court injunction proceedings against employees picketing railway stations.

Iarnrod Eireann yesterday dropped its High Court injunction proceedings against employees picketing railway stations.

The company had been granted a temporary order on Tuesday evening, returnable to the High Court yesterday, restraining workers from continuing pickets. But the injunction was lifted yesterday on the application of the company.

Mr Roddy Horan, for Iarnrod Eireann, told Mr Justice McCracken his instructions were to ask the court to vacate the order granted on Tuesday evening. The judge said he thought that was the course that should be taken.

Mr Horan applied for the case to be adjourned generally with liberty to re-enter. Mr Justice McCracken allowed that application.

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It is believed Iarnrod Eireann did not proceed with its High Court moves against picketers in an effort to ease the way for settlement moves in the dispute which has disrupted rail services.

In granting the temporary injunction on Tuesday, the judge also gave the company permission to put a notice of the making of the order outside rail stations but advised that every effort be made by the company to serve 14 named employees personally.

The company claimed the dispute was putting the entire train service at risk with potential losses of £200,000 a day.

In an affidavit for Tuesday's hearing, Mr Bertie Corbett, passenger service manager (northeast) with Iarnrod Eireann, said he believed the company was the subject of unlawful industrial action initiated by the 14 employees and their co-employees on that day.

Yesterday, Mr Horan told the court the injunction motion had been served on most of the defendants but added that he could not say if it had been served on each of them.