NBRU: No contact from minister over Irish Rail dispute
The National Bus and Rail Union says it has had no contact from the new Transport Minister, Paschal Donohoe, about this weekend's rail strike.
The union is to begin a 48-hour stoppage on Sunday over the introduction of pay cuts without agreement.
On Monday, their colleagues who are members of Siptu, will also go on strike for the day.
Today, the NRBU confirmed that Minister Donohoe has not tried to communicate with them about the industrial action, which will escalate next month with three days of strike action.
The union's general secretary Dermot O'Leary says the Minister should intervene in the dispute.
Mr O'Leary said: "The responsibility lies with the company and the minister is the main shareholder of that company.
"We would like to see the man responsible for the company becoming involved in some kind of resolution here."
Minister Donohoe earlier said he "hugely regrets" the unions' decisions to strike.
He said: "As I've emphasised throughout all of this, Irish Rail has accumulated financial losses of nearly €150m.
"The longer this situation goes on, the larger those costs are going to be."
The travel plans of thousands of GAA fans heading to Croke Park will be affected by the stoppage on Sunday and Irish Rail's Chief Executive, David Franks, is to make an early return from his holidays ahead of the scheduled industrial action.
