Dáil debates

Tuesday, 27 May 2008

5:00 pm

Photo of Arthur MorganArthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I acknowledge the inconvenience caused to the travelling public, whether they are travelling to work, social or sporting events, family meetings and the usual reasons people travel. We are acutely aware the LRC talks have been under way for less than three hours. We wish all those involved well and hope a positive outcome will be achieved this evening to allow people get back to work tomorrow morning and allow the public to travel and use Iarnród Éireann's facilities.

While I understand the Minister cannot jump in to intervene in every dispute on day one or two, can he employ a mechanism to involve the LRC much earlier in disputes such as this? I wonder with regard to all areas and not only transport whether a mechanism can be found to involve the LRC at an earlier date to get people together and talking, sort matters out and get everybody back to business as soon as possible.

It is ironic just minutes after I moved a Bill to amend the Constitution and which calls for union recognition, recognition of collective bargaining and the right to strike that we are discussing a "no strike" clause. We had clear early warning signs with regard to this. I understand what the Minister stated with regard to the difficulties involved. Could a greater effort have been made by all involved, particularly management and the trade unions, to have this closed off before it came to the point of inconveniencing the public for six days?

I share Deputy Allen's view on management seeking workers to sign up to not striking again when it was clearly an extremely fraught time. Does the Minister accept that an opportunity existed to get people back to work and to use the time productively to try to negotiate and get everybody's head around what needs to happen, resolve possible disputes and allow the public to travel?

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