Further disruption to rail travel seems inevitable as yet another State body, this time the Labour Court, dashes the hopes of the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association branch of the ATGWU to represent train-drivers.
Ironically, whatever restraint was imposed on ILDA members by its decision to affiliate to the ATGWU was removed with the suspension of the union's Irish regional secretary, Mr Mick O'Reilly. It is widely accepted that Mr O'Reilly's decision to recruit the maverick train-drivers was a major factor in his suspension.
If the strike goes ahead Iarnrod Eireann says it will resume legal proceedings against the ATGWU for what it claims will be an unofficial strike by the ILDA branch. Any such move would include almost £500,000 in damages for business lost during May's action.
ILDA claims the ballot was in full compliance with the 1990 Act. That will be a matter for the courts to decide, but it is clear the threat of legal action by the company is aimed at isolating ILDA from its new parent as well as seeking some way to recoup losses. Last year the 10week strike cost the company over £8 million.
The ATGWU may find it has a problem if it tries to disown its litigious new offspring and could end up, like the company, in court.
The ILDA problem has taxed the best legal and industrial relations brains in the State. It was in the High Court, Supreme Court, Labour Relations Commission, Labour Court, National Implementation Body and Irish Congress of Trade Unions and is now back with the Labour Court.
Last week the court applied a rarely used section of the 1990 Act to assess if Iarnrod Eireann's structures for hearing disciplinary hearings were fair. The ILDA appears to think the court should have looked at the cases against each of the eight individual drivers facing suspension as well.
The court is understood to disagree, and sources close to the court point out that it is open to the drivers, either individually or collectively, to take their cases to a Rights Commissioner of the Court. One problem with this approach for the drivers is that the final outcome of the cases would be binding.
Instead, they want to use the company's internal appeals procedure, but they want to be represented at those appeals by ILDA members and preferably Mr Ogle.
At present, the union representatives are two named individuals, the NBRU general secretary, Mr Liam Tobin and the SIPTU rail branch secretary, Mr Tony Tobin. Mr Ogle says his members left both unions three years ago and will not be represented by them again.
ILDA is to seek further clarification from the court today and says it has found precedents where Iarnrod Eireann allowed workers on disciplinary charges to be represented by officials from other unions. However, company sources say Mr Ogle was making himself a de facto full-time union official by seeking to represent all his members.
In the past, Mr Ogle has put his problems down to opposition from the company and the trade union establishment. Yesterday he seemed to be widening the ranks of his enemies to include the Labour Court. He described its opinion barring ILDA from appeals tribunals as a "desperately flawed" decision.
Referring to a report in this newspaper last week that State agencies such as the court may not meet EU criteria for independence and impartiality, he hinted that ILDA may take its case to Europe.