Union representatives and Department of Transport officials are to meet today to prepare for a new round of negotiations on the future of CIÉ, with further transport disruption threatened if the talks are not successful.
Workers in Dublin Bus, Iarnród Éireann and Bus Éireann staged a four-hour stoppage yesterday, discommoding thousands of bus and rail passengers.
The action was condemned by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, who said he "could not understand the logic" behind it.
Iarnród Éireann said the action had cost it up to €100,000 in lost revenue, while Dublin Bus estimated its loss at €60,000. Union leaders, however, defended the action, claiming it was necessary to highlight members' fears for their jobs and frustration at the slow pace of discussions to date.
After the collapse of several previous talks processes, the two sides are to meet this morning at the Department of Transport to draw up an agenda and timetable for new negotiations.
These will be chaired by Mr Kevin Foley of the Labour Relations Commission and are expected to get under way this week. Agreement has already been reached on one point, that the talks should be concluded within three to four weeks.
An effective deadline of March 18th has, in fact, been set by SIPTU, which has threatened a full one-day public transport strike on that date if agreement has not been reached.
The unions are opposed to plans by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, to break up CIÉ and force Dublin Bus to surrender up to 25 per cent of its existing routes to private operators.
He has promised, however, to consider any "additional suggestions" put forward by the unions in the upcoming talks.
Yesterday's four-hour stoppage, from 11 a.m. was organised by the National Bus and Rail Union and supported by SIPTU, the two biggest unions in CIÉ.
About 1,000 CIÉ workers marched through Dublin city centre, chanting "Brennan, Brennan, Brennan. Out, out, out".
During a rally outside the Dáil, a letter was delivered to Mr Brennan's office by the NBRU general secretary, Mr Liam Tobin.
In it, he said he regretted that members had to resort "to the tactics of mass protest" to express fears about their jobs and the future of public transport.
The present problems, claimed the letter, could be traced back to Mr Brennan's "unilateral decision" to abandon the template for reform agreed by the Public Transport Partnership Forum.
The forum, which was set up under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, included employers and unions and reported in 2002.
It accepted the principle of increased competition, but said Dublin Bus should retain its existing service network "for a period of years".
Mr Brennan wants to move more quickly in allowing private companies to take over existing Dublin Bus routes.
In his letter to the Minister, Mr Tobin said Dublin Bus was regularly benchmarked as being among the best bus companies in Europe under headings such as customer satisfaction, quality of service and efficiency.
The Taoiseach said he hoped people would now focus on getting the talks started. Questioning the justification for the stoppage, he said: "They had a process, they had a chairman, they had an independent system and they still felt that they needed a dispute."
Neither Mr Brennan nor his Department could be blamed for any delay in appointing a chairman, he said.