Taoiseach urges bus drivers not to strike

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has called on bus drivers not to stop work on May 1st over proposed privatisation plans for 10 per cent of public routes.

"The strike should be called off in my view," he told Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, who urged the Government to end privatisation proposals.

Workers at Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus voted by over 90 per cent in favour of industrial action over proposals by the National Transport Authority (NTA) to put 10 per cent of routes operated by the two State companies out to tender.

Mr Kenny said one of the objectives of the Labour Relations Commission negotiations “was to enable the vast majority of employees to remain within Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann.

“Those employees who might transfer would have their terms and their conditions and their pension benefits maintained. This was clarified and agreed by the Minister.”

But Mr Adams, appealing to the Taoiseach to reverse the decision to privatise 10 per cent of bus services, said “privatisation will inevitably drive down wages and terms and conditions for workers”.

Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus had struggled to maintain services and had increased passenger numbers and revenue despite Government cuts, he said.

He claimed the Government was involved in the “destruction of public services” but said investment in public transport was crucial.

The Government was going to force the public transport companies to compete with private operators “and buses will now run as a means of generating profit for shareholders and not as a public service”.

Public service

Mr Adams said it was ordinary workers, students, the elderly and families who would suffer.

He called on the Taoiseach to acknowledge that “profit cannot be the decisive factor in whether the economy and public services thrive or further decline”.

Mr Kenny said “I don’t accept from you at all Deputy Adams that the Government has decided to privatise Bus Éireann or Dublin Bus”.

“Introducing competitive tendering on a small segment of the entire bus routes available will save taxpayers’ money, will encourage cost competitiveness and will enhance service quality.”

He said the NTA decided in 2013 that 10 per cent of the existing market should be tendered following a wide-ranging consultation.

Mr Kenny said the competitive tendering process for 10 per cent would open in mid-year and Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann would compete for those tenders and they might well win them.