Bus and rail passengers face major disruption over the coming months after one of the State's largest transport unions today voted in favour of strike action.
The National Bus and Railworkers Union (NBRU) voted 90 per cent in favour of taking industrial action this month, in August and in September. Over 3,000 NBRU members participated in the vote, the results of which were published this afternoon.
Seven full-day strikes will be take place between now and September. The affected days are Tuesday July 20th; Wednesday July 4th; Tuesday and Wedndesday, August 24th and 25th; and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, September 7th, 8th and 9th.
The NBRU said an executive committee meeting of the union will "review the situation" again after the final day of strike action on September 9th.
The dispute centres on the issuing of licences by the Department of Transport to private bus operators in the Dublin area.
One of the major concerns for the unions ahead of the Government's break-up plans for CIÉ is what it terms the "cherry picking" of busy, profitable routes by private bus companies.
Last month, the NBRU postponed any further involvement in CIÉ restructuring talks following the revelations that the Department of Transport had issued two licences to private companies less than a week before it was due to provide CIÉ unions with a "definitive response" to their concerns over privatisation.