Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief as I am due in the House to question the Taoiseach on funding issues relating to Irish Rail. My question to Mr. Allen is one I will not have time to ask the Taoiseach. We are facing a strike next Wednesday by Irish Rail staff, the first of five national stoppages planned for the coming weeks. These workers have not had a pay increase for a decade. Mr. Allen referred to a 1.75% pay offer but there are 18 conditions attached to that.

When they are taken into account, this in effect is not a pay increase, but a pay cut, and a significant one at that.

Some salt seems to have been rubbed into the wound recently, with reports appearing in the media of a trip to Enniskillen.