The rot in Bus Éireann’s finances appears to have begun in 2008

It is now almost a year since Bus Éireann announced it needed €20m in savings, €9m of which had to come from the staff pay bill.

The savings drive was the second in the space of three years and, just as then, was greeted with dismay by drivers and their unions.

The rot in the transport company’s finances appears to have begun in 2008. In the previous year it had recorded a profit of €7m, but in 2008 that became a €9m loss. Therefore in 2009, it announced it was axing 322 staff, mainly drivers, taking 150 vehicles off the roads, deferring payment of a 6% pay increase due under a national wage deal and freezing pay. Eventually 100 staff left the company and the pay freeze went ahead.