Rail services are expected to run at a reduced level over the weekend. There will be no Kildare Arrow service today and no trains from Dublin to the Curragh on Sunday.
However, there will be four trains laid on for the Munster hurling final in Thurles tomorrow. Two of these will run from Cork, one from Mallow and one from Heuston Station in Dublin.
Meanwhile, the Labour Relations Commission is to seek legal advice on recent legislation to see if it has a statutory obligation to deal with disputes between individual members of the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association and Iarnrod Eireann. This results from the handing in of 128 letters of complaint by the ILDA from members at the commission's offices on Thursday.
All of the letters complain that none of the ILDA members were consulted directly or given a vote on the deal for locomotive drivers which came into force last month.
The LRC will be seeking guidance on how best to balance its obligations to protect the public interest with that of vindicating the rights of individual workers.
A new statutory instrument, 146/2000, was introduced to give greater negotiating rights to recognised trade unions in the workplace. If it proves applicable to the ILDA, it could open the way for any small group of workers to register as a trade union and seek representation rights for members on an individual basis. A date has yet to be set for a Supreme Court hearing of an appeal by ILDA for trade union recognition.
The ILDA is to hold a press conference today in Dublin. Its executive is later expected to discuss extending its "bucket collections" to DART, Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann depots. Eireann may be targeted because it is providing much of the transport for stranded rail passengers.
While some drivers in these companies have indicated they would not report to work if they found ILDA collectors outside their depots it is thought that such support would be of limited duration.
Meanwhile, SIPTU shop stewards and worker directors at the Irish Fertilisers' plant in Arklow threatened with closure by the rail dispute have been meeting SIPTU train representatives and urging them to return to normal working in Cork.
The company and SIPTU are hoping members will return to normal working on Monday to prevent the lay-off of more than 200 union members in Arklow. ILDA members in Dublin's Inchicore depot are expected to meet tomorrow to review the situation.
A threat of renewed industrial action by line inspectors has been averted. After talks in Dublin yesterday SIPTU and company representatives agreed to resume negotiations on Monday.