The fragile industrial peace at CIÉ came under threat yesterday when the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) postponed its continued involvement in talks with the Department of Transport.
The union, one of the two biggest in CIÉ, is to hold an emergency meeting of its executive on Saturday to decide its next move.
It announced the decision yesterday, citing the department's failure to provide definitive proposals on the future of Dublin Bus as promised.
It was the third time the department had failed to meet a deadline to provide documents, the union claimed.
A department spokesman expressed "surprise and disappointment" at the union's move.
The department, he said, had held 15 meetings with the CIÉ unions since February, in talks chaired by Mr Kevin Foley of the Labour Relations Commission, and believed a lot of progress was being made.
The current phase of talks began in March after SIPTU called off a threatened one-day strike and entered discussions.
Unions are opposed to reform plans outlined by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, including a proposal to give private operators control of up to 25 per cent of the Dublin bus market.
Mr Liam Tobin, the NBRU general secretary, said more and more licences were being issued to private operators competing with Bus Éireann, placing members' jobs under threat.
Unions had entered the talks in good faith but now wondered if they were being "strung along" while Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus were "quietly dismembered".
The department spokesman said it was obliged under law to deal with licence applications within a certain time frame.
Mr Tobin said the union had not withdrawn from the talks but would decide whether to continue with them on Saturday. "All options are being considered."
Public transport in Dublin has been disrupted by a number of stoppages over the issue in the last year.
