Irish Rail have confirmed that the 5.40am Dundalk to Pearse train will run tomorrow morning.
Doubts about the service had emerged after Irish Rail drivers announced they would be striking from 6am to 9am.
The 5.40am service from Clarke Station will run but only as far as Connolly Station though. This service will also stop at the normal intermediate stations.
No other commuter services will operate prior to 10am.
Full details on the strike can be found here.
Local rail commuters are facing major disruption tomorrow.
Threatened industrial action by Irish Rail drivers will affect rail services in the morning.
The drivers are going on strike from 6am to 9am. As a result, no commuter services will operate prior to 10am, with disruption possible until noon.
Irish Rail also insist that Intercity services cannot be guaranteed prior to 2pm, although there may be a limited service between 9am and 2pm.
Rail tickets will not be valid on services of other transport providers during the strike.
A similar disruption is also planned for Friday November 6th.
Further details on www.irishrail.ie
Dunnes Stores workers in Dundalk will hold a solidarity day today.
The event gives members of the public the chance to speak to workers at the three local stores about their current dispute which led to them taking strike action last month and show their support for them.
The events take place from 12 noon to 1pm at the Marshes Shopping Centre, from 1.30pm to 2.30pm at the Neighbourhood Centre in Muirhevnamor and from 3pm to 5pm at the store in Ard Easmuinn.
Tony Malone
The local Dunnes Stores employee who claims he was unfairly dismissed from his job in the Marshes Shopping Centre just a day after going on strike earlier this month will be interviewed on RTÉ television tonight.
Tony Malone, from Muirhevnamor, will appear on Claire Byrne Live on RTÉ One at 9.35pm.
Last week the Mandate Trade Union said they were taking legal advice over Dunnes’ decision to let Mr Malone go from his employment just 24 hours after the strike on Holy Thursday, April 2nd.
While the case is still under investigation, a number of locals have vowed to boycott Dunnes over the treatment of Mr Malone, with staff nationally considering proposals to strike again, most likely on the May Bank Holiday weekend.
Mr Malone told the ‘This Week’ programme on RTÉ radio at the weekend that he would choose to go on strike again if he was still working at the company.
Asked if his dismissal could scare other workers from further industrial action, Mr Malone said: “It may scare the ones that never striked, but for the ones who did strike, I think it will just add some fuel to the fire.”
Local senator Mary Moran was one of several politicians who supported those on strike yesterday
Gardaí were called to the Marshes yesterday to ensure access to the shopping centre was left unblocked by Dunnes Stores workers who were striking there.
Dunnes staff and Mandate union officials were joined by local politicians and supporters throughout the day as part of their protest against 15-hour contracts with no fixed working hours.
Both the Dunnes Stores in the Marshes and Ard Easmuinn were forced to close earlier than planned as a result of the strike action, which also took place at the Neighbourhood Centre in Muirhevnamor.
ISSU President Craig McHugh
Members of the Irish Second Level Student’s Union (ISSU) in Dundalk have expressed their disappointment with the strike action that saw over 330,000 students “locked out” of education yesterday.
Secondary schools both locally and nationally did not open on Tuesday due to the teaching strikes called upon by ASTI and TUI over their battle against the proposed junior cert reform.
Coláiste Rís student and ISSU President Craig McHugh spoke to Matt Cooper on yesterday’s The Last Word show on Today FM and said he believed the dispute was no longer about junior cert reform, accusing teachers of “stubbornness”.
“I am deeply disappointed that the strikes went ahead. Over 330,000 students like me were affected and the feeling among many that we represent is that this is no longer about opposition to reform, but almost stubbornness.
“The junior cycle was broken and inadequate for the evolving world we live in. The problems outlined by the teaching unions, in my opinion and the students I represent, does not justify an industrial action as large as a strike.
“We’ve compromised and bit our tongue at the reduction of the continuous assessment decision from 60pc to 40pc and I think it’s time for the teaching unions to do the same, move forward and get on with it.
“This reform is good. It works for students and the negatives being outlined may be considered as issues to some, but we don’t and the majority of education stakeholders do not believe this strike is in anyway necessary and that majority stems from students right up to principals and parents.”
Other ISSU representatives from Dundalk including Shay McArdle (O Fiaich College) and Joy Moses (St Vincent’s) echoed Craig’s remarks.
Craig also called upon TUI leader Gerry Quinn to call off the proposed January strike due to its timing and close proximity with Mock Junior Cert and Leaving Cert exams.
The A&E of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital is frequently overcrowded
Nurses at this area’s main hospital will strike this day next week to protest at horrific conditions they claim are putting patients’ lives at risk.
Overworked Accident and Emergency staff at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda will hold the action next Wednesday November 19 from 1pm-2pm.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said that our elderly have been stripped of their dignity and privacy as they are forced to lie toe-to-toe on trolleys in the hospital’s corridors.
They said that these patients, often in their 80s and 90s, are frequently subjected to a three or four day wait in the overcrowded hospital’s hallways.
Shocking figures released by the group last week showed that the number of patients on trolleys at the hospital had soared by a staggering 243 per cent last month, compared to October 2013, to 631.
Continuously being short-staffed is also making the problem even worse, according to the union.
The INMO said that they have outlined the gravity of the situation in a letter to the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) but were told that funding is not available at the moment.
Union members have decided that enough is enough and their members are going to stop all non-essential work to get their voices heard.
Tony Fitzpatrick, INMO Industrial Relations Officer, said that the worsening crisis can be detrimental for people’s health.
He said: “The risk of a death in the Emergency Department increases by 30 per cent when this level of overcrowding exists and it is becoming impossible for our members to provide safe care to patients.”
Mr Fitzpatrick added that the lack of suitable nursing home beds has also had a negative impact on our hospitals.
He explained: “In excess of 60 patients are clinically discharged but remain in acute beds in the hospital due to the lack of step down facilities and this problem needs to be urgently addressed.
“Since 2010 acute and non- acute beds have been closed in the catchment area for example 97 beds were closed in the Louth County Hospital and bed numbers were reduced in the Cottage Hospital, Drogheda, St Mary’s, Drogheda, St Oliver Plunkett’s Dundalk and St Joseph’s Trim.”
He said that some of the €25million that was allocated in Budget 2015 to tackle overcrowding should be used now as we enter into the harsh winter months, where hospital admissions increase.
The front page of today’s Irish Independent
Local rail commuters could face massive disruption shortly after Transport Minister Leo Varadkar warned of “inevitable strike action” at Irish Rail within weeks.
Commenting in today’s Irish Independent, Minister Varadkar said he was “not hopeful” that agreement could be reached between management and unions over plans to cut pay-roll costs by nearly €5m a year.
Talks between the company and unions at the Labour Relations Commission ended in failure before Christmas and Mr Varadkar told the Independent he could “see strikes happening” before March.
Fianna Fáil’s transport spokesman Timmy Dooley has dismissed Mr Varadkar as “defeatist” but the Transport Minister is adamant that annual payroll savings of €4.7m must be achieved at Irish Rail, as they were in Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann.
“The last thing anyone wants to see is passengers disrupted and I would hope that some agreement can be reached but within the next one to two months, I can see rail strikes happening,” said Varadkar.
The Bus Éireann strike is continuing today and is causing a series of problems for people both locally and nationally.
With exams taking place in Dundalk IT at present, a number of students are sweating on whether or not they will make it to the town in time to take the test.
London-based Irish actress Laura Bella Griffin, has already had a moan to Bus Éireann on Twitter to complain that her brother is likely to miss his exam.
A number of other people have been complaining about their difficulty in getting back from Dublin Airport.
Have you been affected by the strike thus far?
Source: Laura Bella Griffin (Twitter)
Previously: Bus strike
Talk of the Town 