COMMENT: Luas strike didn’t rain on our parade

THE 1916 Rising centenary celebrations were a resounding success and an absolute credit to everyone involved. Given the scale of the national broadcaster’s involvement, I’ve almost forgiven RTÉ for the previous Friday’s ‘Late Late Show’ which was beyond awful.

Apart from the heckling of Minister Heather Humphreys on Moore Street, the only real discordant note was sounded by the Luas drivers who decided to proceed with their strike action on the two most important days of the commemoration programme. At this stage, I can’t even remember whether I agreed or not with the pay demands of the drivers and their union representatives or what their actual grievances were in the first place. 

Punishing the public in such a manner was not the way to engender public support for their cause. The right to take industrial action was something held dear by many of those involved in the struggle for Irish independence and it’s a principle that should equally apply today to workers involved in disputes with their employers.

But the timing of the strike, clearly designed to cause maximum disruption at such a momentous and historic occasion, seemed like a vulgar and disproportionate response to the recent breakdown in WRC efforts to broker a resolution. Whatever about the rights and wrongs in the dispute, the drivers could easily have deferred their action to another weekend as an act of solidarity with ordinary Dubliners. 

Some said the strike was an insult to the memory of the 1916 heroes, which was stretching it a bit. It was simply an insult to the many families and individuals making their way into the city for the celebrations on Easter Sunday and Monday. 

The Luas has become an integral part of Dublin’s public transport network and its absence from the city’s streets was regrettable as images of the celebrations were beamed around the world. The only trams on view over the weekend were the ones depicted in the grainy photographs and film footage of Dublin in ruins in the wake of the Rising.

Today, the Luas is a symbol of what a modern, cosmopolitan city Dublin has become in the 21st century. It was sad to see the trams once again removed from the streetscape.

In my opinion, the actions of the striking Luas workers represented a new low for industrial relations in Ireland. Thankfully, it didn’t deter hundreds of thousands of people from coming into Dublin to enjoy the Easter Rising centenary events which were a triumph in every respect.