Drivers put brakes on bus stoppages

Commuters expecting further travel chaos in the Capital today and tomorrow have been granted a temporary reprieve following a decision by Dublin Bus drivers to call off a planned 48-hour stoppage.

However the threat of further strike remains unless a deal is reached in a dispute over pay. Should the talks fail, the tens of thousands expected to travel to Croke Park on Saturday for the replay of the men’s Senior All-Ireland Football Final between Dublin and Mayo will be hit be a scheduled strike.

Yesterday, trade union Siptu and the National Bus and Rail Workers’ Union (NBRU) accepted a request by the Workplace Relations Commission to defer the strikes they had planned for today and tomorrow to allow for four days of intensive negotiations aimed at resolving the dispute.