It would be difficult to think of a more shambolic week for the Dart than the one just past. If all those responsible for this publicly funded utility - the Government, Iarnrod Eireann management and the company's employees - had conspired to present customers with the worst possible service they could devise, they could hardly have done better. There has not been a single day during which a normal, modern and efficient service has been provided.
Last week, Iarnrod Eireann was proclaiming to anyone listening that it was ushering in "major improvements" in the Dart service to Malahide and Greystones. Sadly for the company, fewer and fewer people bother to listen to what it says. Why? Because very little can be believed: Iarnrod Eireann is now a company with near zero credibility. Last Monday, the first morning of this new, improved service, the company began the day by cancelling several trains because of a shortage of drivers. Yesterday, the second last shopping day before Christmas, Iarnrod Eireann was warning that up to 20 Darts a day would be cancelled for the foreseeable future.
The Dart is an integral part of what ought to be a properly functioning urban commuter transport network and the 85,000 people who use it daily are entitled to expect a decent service, for which they pay. After prolonged negotiations, Dart drivers recently signed a deal giving them £29,500 a year for a 48 hour week, a basic pay increase from about £7.50p an hour to £12 an hour. Are some drivers now reneging on that deal? If so, what is management doing about it? What sanctions are being applied? The company claims it only agreed to the deal because of a verbal commitment from drivers to provide interim cover until more drivers were trained. While both sides agree this was not written down, drivers refusing to provide cover are hardly living up to the spirit of the agreement.
But was Iarnrod Eireann management wise to place its faith in an unwritten agreement with a workforce that has shown itself to be, to put it mildly, unusually curmudgeonly about change? The day-to-day running of the Dart is the responsibility of the company's management. There can be little doubt that if a private sector enterprise was run as Iarnrod Eireann has been of late, a new broom would be sweeping through the office (not to say the boardroom). The fact is that Iarnrod Eireann as a company is failing its customers in a major way and for that both workers and managers stand indicted.
Ultimately, however, this interminable mess is the responsibility of the Government and, specifically, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Mrs Mary O'Rourke. Mrs O'Rourke has a penchant for fighting tough and talking through (some might say down) her opponents. But at this stage, the public has heard enough: it is high time for results - it is time for Mrs O'Rourke to do her job.