The National Bus and Rail Union's General Secretary wants the Minister of Transport to intervene in the upcoming Irish Rail strike.

The NBRU's general secretary Dermot O'Leary says minister Paschal Donohoe should step in.

"The responsibility on this lies with the company and the minister is the main shareholder of that company and we would see him having responsibility in becoming involved in some type of resolution," said O'Leary.

But the Minister for Transport has said he will not directly intervene to try and stop strike action at Irish Rail this Sunday.

He told Newstalk Lunchtime: "For those calling me to intervene, there's one question that has to be confronted here, whose money would I be using to intervene on at this point. Of course it's the money of the Irish taxpayer.

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 Paschal Donohue has not tried to communicate with them about the industrial action, which will escalate next month with three days of strike action.