Bus Éireann staff protest decentralisation

Around 100 clerical and managerial workers from Bus Éireann's head office held a protest in Dublin's O'Connell Street today over plans to decentralise most of them to Co Cork.

The workers, who are all members of the Transport Salaried Staff's Association (TSSA), released 81 balloons at the Spire to represent each of the jobs that are due to be decentralised to Mitchelstown.

The union says not one staff member at the Bus Éireann head office has indicated a willingness to move outside the capital.

The TSSA is also angered by the fact that the 81 jobs concerned have been advertised on the Decentralistion Central Applications Facility website.

Mr Colm Jordan, TSSA's organiser, said 85 per cent of Bus Éireann's 2,700 staff already work outside Dublin. "What is most galling is that the largest concentration of Bus Éireann Staff are decentralised in Cork already, 21 per cent of Bus Éireann staff work in Cork," he said. "You cannot decentralise the decentralised."

He said there is no valid business reason for the move to Mitchelstown and warned the public and tourists will suffer as a result of "political interference".

Mr Jordan said if the Government proceeds with its plans, every single member of staff in the new Bus Éireann head office would be newly recruited.