I often wonder about the viability of the railways in Ireland.
In theory, rail should be more efficient and more environmentally friendly than road transport.
However, after many years working in Ireland, and I can only assume that IE suffers the same, the massive thorn in the side of efficiency and progress everywhere I worked was the unions.
I used to think that their role was to protect employees, their rights, their conditions, their wages, their treatment.
But, what I saw over the years was that things went too far. When technological advances or a changing economy made a post extinct, employees would still be entitled to work the same hours for the same money without taking on a different role.
If IE suffers like this, and there are never pay cuts and never changes in job descriptions, the rails will slowly strangle themselves into obsolesence.
I never understood this clip as a kid, but it is painfully accurate as an adult: