Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This comes back to the Minister's commitment to the stakeholder's forum. That was on 10 July, some four months ago. The Minister could have picked up a phone and set a date. He could have decided to start with the meeting and then set the agenda and the terms of reference.

I am sure that, despite the Minister's apparent lack of interest in public transport, he is aware that this year alone CIÉ is expecting record passenger numbers and that revenue is at its highest level ever. The pay of drivers starts at €43,000. Does the Minister believe that the train drivers in Iarnród Éireann are less entitled to the same type of pay rise that workers got in other parts of the transport sector? How does he justify not giving them the same terms, especially considering that TDs will award themselves a €5,500 pay rise between April of this year and January of next year? Where is the equity in that? Where is the fairness? The transport workers did not cause this strike. Gross underfunding in infrastructure has brought us to this point.

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