Bus and rail strikes 'almost inevitable'

NATIONWIDE bus and rail strikes are almost an inevitability the National Bus and Railworkers' Union (NBRU) warned last night.

NBRU general secretary Liam Tobin accused Transport Minister Seamus Brennan of breaking his word after it emerged that two new licences have been issued to private bus operators in the Dublin area.

The licences concerned were issued at the start of June and are for services from Dublin city centre to City West Campus and from Sydney Parade DART station to City West Spar.

"We have negotiated in good faith how to improve services in the best interests of our members and the public only to find the key asset of Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus, their routes, are being cynically sold out of the back door of the department," he said.

The two new routes were awarded just six days before Mr Brennan was due to reply to union concerns about plans to break up CIÉ and franchise 25% of Dublin bus routes.

On Tuesday the NBRU pulled out of talks with the department claiming it had failed to honour a third deadline to respond to the union concerns. A special executive meeting of the union, due tomorrow, is now expected to sanction strike action.

"In the circumstances our national executive will have few options when it meets on Saturday. It looks as if Mr Brennan may get the long hot summer he has been yearning for since April 2003," said Mr Tobin.

The Department of Transport said it was required by law to issue new bus licences and indicated that officials are available to talk to the NBRU about their concerns.

But the NBRU last night rejected the department's statement saying a statutory instrument signed by Mr Brennan would be enough to stop any legal problem surrounding the issuing of bus licences.

Mr Tobin said for a price of just €7.62 less than the cost of a dog licence private operators were being handed lucrative routes without competitive tendering and with no obligation to meet the same standards of Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann.

"This is privatisation by stealth. It has nothing to do with improving services in the long-term interest of commuters, it has nothing to do with reaching a consensus on the best way forward for public transport or even with creating fair competition. It has everything to do with a minister driving through his own agenda," said Mr Tobin.

"What makes the process all the more worrying is the manner in which routes are being handed out. There is no open or competitive tendering. Operators simply approach the department and take their pick," he continued.