A STRIKE that could have paralysed rail services in Munster at the weekend was averted last night following talks at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC).
Unions and management at Iarnród Éireann were locked in talks at the commission in Dublin all day yesterday but, shortly after 9pm, discussions ended and the threatened action was called off.
Line maintenance staff in Cork, Limerick and Kerry had threatened to withdraw labour for 24 hours tomorrow, the start of the busy August bank holiday weekend.
The dispute centred around the assignment of duties to contract workers that Iarnród Éireann employees regard as their core work.
Thousands of rail-users would have been been disrupted across Munster if the strike had gone ahead.
A spokesman for Iarnród Éireann said last night good progress had been made at the commission and the company was delighted the strike had been called off. He said further talks were scheduled for next Thursday.
"We can now assure our customers that normal services will operate across the network over the bank holiday weekend. We are very grateful to the Labour Relations Commission for their assistance . . . and for the positive approach taken by all parties involved," he said.
Earlier yesterday, Paul Cullen of trade union Siptu described relations between workers and management at Iarnród Éireann as "deplorable", a claim which has been strongly denied by the rail company's human resources manager, John Keenan.
LRC chief executive Kieran Mulvey, while not commenting directly on the threatened strike, said disruption caused to people on busy bank holiday weekends was unacceptable.
