Thousands of commuters have been advised to leave home early and check local stations if travelling on public transport today as the four-hour strike by CIÉ workers goes ahead.
All buses and rail services are expected to come to a halt. The strike is scheduled to take place between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., but the CIÉ bus and rail companies have warned that the disruption was likely to be longer as schedules would be upset.
The National Bus and Railworkers Union (NBRU) which has 3,000 members and SIPTU which has 6,000 in Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann will go ahead with the action.
They are protesting at what they say is the Minister for Transport's lack of urgency at meeting concerns about their future.
The only concession made to the public was a decision by SIPTU to request drivers on long-haul and inter-city services which depart before 11 a.m. to complete their journeys.
A Dublin Bus spokeswoman warned that they expected buses to start winding down from 9.30 a.m. as those taking part would be taking buses back to the seven depots.
"It won't be possible to guarantee a service from 9.30 to 10 a.m. onwards and once the stoppage is underway there won't be a resumed service until well after three, not until 3.30 to 4 p.m. at least, as all the buses will be back at the garages," she said.
It would have quite a major impact on passengers. All they could advise was that passengers used services before and after these stoppage times, although history had shown that people would not use the services on that day, the spokeswoman said.
"The only alternative is the car or walk," she said.
A spokesman for Bus Éireann said the advice to passengers was to check with local offices. They expected local services and all city services to resume after the stoppage. "But on the Expressway services, the stoppage will have a knock-on effect during the rest of the day as buses and drivers will all be in the wrong places, so we're not in a position to guarantee any services or forward connections."All inter-city and cross-country trains, DART and commuter trains will be halted from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. or possibly up to 4 p.m.
A spokesman for Iarnród Éireann said: "It now appears inevitable that all services face disruption during the times of the protest action. There may be a knock-on effect after the hours of action, particularly on InterCity services. "
Mr Conor Faughnan of the AA said if there was no public transport, many would feel the only option was to take the car.
Yesterday, Labour MEP Mr Proinsias De Rossa said the public in Dublin and elsewhere would be paying the price for the Minister's outdated and discredited ideology of privatisation.
However, Mr Declan Martin, Dublin Chamber of Commerce urged the Minister to proceed with the introduction of his planned route franchising.