Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá an cheist chéanna agamsa faoin stailc in Iarnród Éireann. Mar a bhfuil a fhios ag an Taoiseach, tá a lán daoine faoi bhrú inniu agus iad gan traein. Creidim go bhfuil ceart ag an lucht oibre. Tá ceist mhór ann faoin Aire. Cá bhfuil an tAire, an Teachta Ross? An bhfuil sé ann? Níl.

The decision of workers to engage in industrial action is completely understandable. They have not had a pay rise in ten years. There are looking for fairness, which is an increase in line with the transport workers.

The Taoiseach knows that in 2016, the revenues for Iarnród Éireann were a record high of €245 million. Passenger numbers have increased hugely and the company is looking forward to the best ever passenger numbers since its foundation, yet it refuses to pay its workers a fair wage and lectures them about the financial crisis facing the company. The financial crisis was not caused by the workers but rather by successive Governments. The Taoiseach is a former Minister with responsibility for transport and will not admit this but bad Government policy is at the heart of the transport chaos.

The question must be asked as to where the Government is in all of this. Where is the Minister? The Taoiseach claims not to be a keeper of his Ministers but where is the Minister with responsibility for transport? The National Transport Authority's 2016 rail review document laid out in black and white how much investment is needed by the company, but what is the Minister's attitude to this? We have seen little or no interest from him in addressing the matters raised in the report. The stakeholders' meeting has not been convened and it is an example of the way the Minister does not have a focus or the urgency required in all this. Given his efforts towards peace - perhaps he is Minister with responsibility for North Korean affairs in his own head - I suppose a rail strike is a very trivial matter for a man so preoccupied with such big matters.

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