The Taoiseach said this evening he did not understand the logic of today's work stoppage by transport unions that caused widespread disruption to passengers across the State.
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Bus and rail workers' ended their four-hour work stoppage at 3 p.m. after a rally outside the Department of Transport in Dublin.
Widespread disruption was caused to thousands of commuters as 9,000 workers downed tools at 11 a.m. All mainline bus, rail, DART and Dublin Bus services were affected by the action.
The workers, who are members of the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) and SIPTU, were protesting at the perceived lack of progress by the Department to organise talks on the future of CIÉ. The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, plans to break up the company and privatise some bus routes.
The unions said their action was not aimed at the travelling public but at Mr Brennan over their frustration at delays in talks. They decided to go ahead with the action despite the appointment of Mr Kevin Foley of the Labour Relations Commission last Friday as the chairman of the talks.
Speaking this evening, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern said he did not understand why the unions decided to proceed with today's protest.
"They had a process, they had a chairman, they had an independent system and they still felt they needed a dispute, so I don't understand the logic quite frankly," he said.
CIÉ union members took part in protest marches in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and other towns. In Dublin, around 1,000 union members marched from the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square to Leinster House to deliver a letter to the Department of Transport.
A spokesman for Mr Brennan, said the Government would not be changing its plans. The Minister's view was that there was no need for the stoppage because a talks process was in train.
The Tánaiste said the action was "deeply disappointing" and said it highlighted the importance of competition in transport services.
Fine Gael's transport spokesman, Mr Denis Naughten, described the strike as
"pointless" and a "disgrace", as talks are about to start with the Department of Transport. "NBRU and SIPTU have unleashed chaos on the travelling public, with thousands of passengers left stranded by this pointless action," he said.
"The unions are interfering with a fundamental right: the right to travel on public transport."
Employers' group ISME yesterday described the protests as "malicious and mistaken", and the Dublin City Business Association claimed this morning the strike action was an attempt to prevent the introduction of competition into the public transport market.
"CIÉ unions must not be allowed hold the public to ransom whenever they choose," the association's chief executive, Mr Tom Coffey, said. "The Government must now act to uphold the law and provide a competitive transport service to the public."
Sinn Féin's spokesman on transport, Mr Seán Crowe, blamed what he called Mr Brennan's "shambolic and incoherent" transport policy for the strike. This policy, he said, "has eroded any and all confidence the unions had in his ability to deal with them in a fair and above-board manner".