Mr. Ray Coyne:

I thank the Deputy for the question. Dublin Bus has been involved in a negotiations process for the past 15 months.

In 2015, we engaged with the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and engaged in discussions with the trade unions for 13 months. Following the WRC, the issue was sent to the Labour Court. The Labour Court made a determination of 2.75% a year among other areas that included productivity and pension arrangements. Dublin Bus is a semi-State company and always has and always will respect the State institutions that are there to deal with industrial relations issues. The Labour Court recommendation was balloted on by our staff members and rejected. We then re-engaged with the WRC and with the trade unions which were seeking to increase the offer for our employees. Out of four days of tough negotiations on all sides, it was a tough time for our customers, employees, trade unions and management, came an adjustment to the deal, which as the Deputy pointed out was an increase of 1% per year. There were a number of measures that will offset the increase and will help Dublin Bus to increase its revenue.

The Deputy discussed a number of the measures but I do not think it would be appropriate to go into a discussion of this at present as in fairness to the employees, we are still in discussions and there is a ballot taking place. We expect the outcome of the ballot within the next seven days. I would like to give the employees the time and opportunity to reflect on the offer that is on the table and make a decision based on that.