Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is very regrettable that it now appears there is likely to be a strike this weekend. This is a pity as it will have an impact not just on the workers concerned, which I understand, but also on commuters across the country on a bank holiday weekend. It is regrettable and a great pity that it could not have been avoided and averted.

I am not, contrary to the Deputy's accusation, in the business of blaming people - management, workers or anyone else. I very much hope that some time in the very near future it will be possible for the parties to get around the table and reach an agreement on the issues involved. Deputy Daly, in her normal way, delivered a little lecture to me about trade union solidarity but I know all about the trade unions in the bus company and I know the efforts they have made in recent years, along with management, to transform the company and ensure that it is a good, strong public service company for the people of this city and elsewhere in the country. I am sure it will go from strength to strength, with strong management and strong trade unions. That is what makes a company like Dublin Bus successful.

The broader issue is that in a growing economy like ours the Government wants to ensure that commuters have the best service available to them to get to and from their place of work speedily and efficiently. We are greatly concerned that this industrial action is happening in circumstances where the NTA is carrying out its statutory duty of proceeding with a tendering process that has resulted from its assessment of how best to direct and award tendered PSO bus services in the public interest. The strike action will cause considerable disruption over the weekend to the public across the country and will inevitably damage the company's finances if it goes ahead.

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Donohoe, confirmed yesterday that following detailed discussions with the bus companies, management was willing to give a commitment that no driver currently employed would be required to transfer to another operator unless he or she wished to do so. It is not a question of transferring to another company and having concerns about terms and conditions of employment in that new company because no worker will be compelled to transfer to a private operator. I appreciate and accept that the unions have other concerns but the best way for them to be resolved is around the table. The unions should sit down and do what they do so well, as they have done in Dublin Bus, and seek to reach agreement in the interests of their own members and of the broader community.

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