Good news for those of you using Irish Rail over Christmas

After agreeing to this deal, the Labour Court made the recommendation that unions should not make any more pay claims for the deal's duration. It also encouraged both sides to agree upon a series of initiatives, including a performance management scheme and improved absenteeism policy. Irish Rail have said that Siptu, NBRU, Unite, Transport Salaried Staffs' Association and the Technical Engineering & Electrical Union had accepted the Labour Court's ruling. Describing the actions of the unions as "mature and pragmatic... in accepting this pay award after 10 years of pay stagnation", General Secretary of the NBRU, Dermot O'Leary went on to say: "They have done so in the face of a management team who, led by the CEO, set its face against recognising the fact that staff that have contributed greatly to making Iarnród Éireann a successful modern railway service, with record revenue and the highest ever recorded passenger numbers," he said. O'Leary went on to state that the NBRU would concentrate on ensuring members of Bus Éireann would find themselves with a similar result, "by achieving a long overdue and well-deserved pay award." SIPTU Organiser, Paul Cullen, urged Minister for Transport, Shane Ross to agree upon a date to start talks on the future of public transport. “Over the last two years, there has been major industrial action at Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann and Irish Rail," he said. “It is in order to end such a chaotic approach to public transport, so that the travelling public is not unnecessarily inconvenienced again, that Siptu representatives are repeating our request that the Minister agrees a mutually acceptable time and date to begin the necessary dialogue on the future of public transport.”