(Mayo): Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for choosing this matter on the Adjournment. The one-day rail strike, which has paralysed train services the length and breadth of the country once again, is but another example of how industrial relations in many of the State utilities have gone off the rails. The frightening aspect of each of the disputes is not only that there is no solution in sight for any of them, but they are all at a stage of strike, go slows or work to rule. The consequences for the economy and consumers are very serious.
On the current Iarnród Éireann dispute, there are no trains operating today apart from the DART services in Dublin. The withdrawal of labour by signal staff is the third rail strike this year. There has already been industrial action by permanent rail staff. Throughout the summer services outside Dublin were crippled for ten weeks because of the ILDA dispute. In spite of the fact that IFI in Arklow was closed down for weeks because of lack of supplies and the tourism industry was devastated, there was an eerie silence from the Minister and a marked disinclination by the Labour Court and the Labour Relations Commission to get involved. Finally, after millions of pounds in losses to Iarnród Éireann and multi-million pound damage to the economy, both the LRC and the Labour Court were eventually prevailed upon to try to work out a solution. As in the present dispute, why was decisive action not taken earlier?
Today's dispute concerns a new basic pay rate and new working arrangements by signal staff. My understanding is that unless a resolution is found to this problem, services will be again immobilised on 22 and 23 November and successively afterwards. We are told the company accepts that basic pay rates are low. Why then was it not possible to head off today's action by getting meaningful dialogue under way? There is now news that DART drivers are also serving notice of their intention to strike on 20 November.
Adding to the current climate of poor industrial relations, the Minister and the company could be heading for yet another confrontation with ILDA because of the unprecedented leaking by the Labour Relations Commission to a Sunday newspaper of a summary of the alleged findings of a rail safety consultants report on safety concerns expressed by the train drivers before the joint Labour Court-Labour Relations Commission, which was charged with the investigation, prior to the completion of the report. This is an extremely serious breach of long-established procedures. What, if anything, has the Minister and the Tánaiste done to establish the source of these leaks?
There is a huge industrial relations malaise within Iarnród Éireann. There is one litany of disputes after the other, with endless problems and inconvenience for passengers and industrial users. Unless the industrial relations problems within Iarnród Éireann are sorted out soon, irrespective of the investment poured into the rail system, there will be constant disruption and trouble ahead. It goes without saying that there is an urgent need for the Minister to carry out an immediate and detailed examination and audit of the human resource section and human resource policy of Iarnród Éireann and CIE to establish why they have not been more successful in building a peaceful industrial relations climate in the company.
