The Labour Relations Commission is expected to respond tomorrow to the request from the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association for its intervention in the Iarnrod Eireann dispute.
However there were signs last night the ILDA and groups of CIE workers supporting its stance might call on the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, to intervene directly - with the threat of widespread picketing and other protests if she refuses.
What form such action would take was still unclear last night but it is thought that all CIE services would be targeted, including the DART, Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann.
The decision to call on Ms O'Rourke to intervene follows a refusal by the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, to agree to an ILDA request for her to involve herself in resolving the dispute. The association was calling on her to do so because she was the minister responsible for signing Statutory Instrument 146 into law.
The ILDA is claiming that the new SI definition of a "registered" trade union means Iarnrod Eireann must deal with it in the current dispute about new rosters. The company says the only legal definition of a trade union is contained in the 1990 Industrial Relations Act.
However the Act requires recognised unions to have a negotiating licence, something the ILDA lacks. Ironically, it was the Irish Congress of Trade Unions which called for the change in the law to deal with anti-trade union companies. The LRC is now effectively being asked to decide the issue. Meanwhile, the dispute so far has cost Iarnrod Eireann just over £1 million, or an average of £120,000 a day. Although mainline services are now running between major centres, including Cork and Dublin, there is a reluctance by the public to use trains while uncertainty persists. Mr Liam Gavin, proprietor of the To Go food bar in Heuston station, Dublin, said yesterday that sales were down 45 per cent and he would have to consider laying off some of the 30-strong workforce. Mr Pat Irwin of Easons said there had been a sharp fall in sales at its outlets in Dublin and Cork railway stations, although receipts at Busarus Eireann depot in Dublin were up.