Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Our public transport subvention is the lowest in Europe. I am blue in the face listening to the Minister, Deputy Ross, and Government representatives saying that this is an industrial dispute. For the past five months, the Government has been asked repeatedly to engage with all of the stakeholders, including the NTA, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Bus Éireann management and the unions, but has repeatedly refused to do so. This was long before strike action was called. We are now four days out from an all-out strike in our public transport network. The Government is still refusing to engage with stakeholders or demand that the Minister engage with the stakeholders involved to find a resolution to the crisis.

There are two clear Government policies that have become apparent over the past while. The first is the race to the bottom for workers' rights, pay and conditions. The second is the outsourcing and privatisation of our public transport network. How any Government in its right mind could stand over those two issues is beyond belief. Given that we are facing all-out strike action on Monday and disruption across the public transport network, will the Government demand that the Minister, Deputy Ross, appear from wherever he is hiding and become involved in the negotiations?

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