Bus Eireann driver: ‘We don’t want to inconvenience anybody’

Bus Éireann driver Ken O’Donnell said they never wanted to let people down, but they have been let down themselves.

“We have families, and we have bills, and we have had to put our lives on hold.”

He was speaking outside Busáras, Dublin’s central bus station for intercity and regional bus services operated by Bus Éireann, as Irish Rail and Dublin Bus services were resuming after unofficial Bus Éireann pickets were lifted.

Mr O’Donnell defended the action: “We felt that most people did not even know we were out on strike. We don’t want to inconvenience anybody; we just want to get back doing what we do, which is to drive our buses, but we want to do it for the same money we had before we went on strike. I am not long with Bus Éireann where I am paid a fair wage. It is a good company. I worked for private bus operators before, so I have seen both sides.”

Mr O’Donnell said he and his striking colleagues are “holding up” as they faced a second week without wages: “We know we have some of the public on our side, but we also know that we have alienated people. But we are not here to make friends. We are more concerned about ourselves, our families, our future, and our jobs.”

However, Paul O’Lynn, from Larne, Co Antrim, who was waiting for the airport bus outside Busáras said he feels Bus Éireann workers were wrong because the company is going to “go under” anyway: “They should be thankful that they have jobs.”

Elizabeth Benison, from Boyle, Co Roscommon, was waiting for a train to Sligo in Connolly Station after spending a week being treated for an illness at the Beacon Hospital in Dublin: “I hope the workers and management reach a solution although I think that will be tough. In the meantime, we are the people affected most by the situation.”

Emmy Doherty, a door-to-door charity fundraiser from Donegal, said half of her team could not turn up in Dublin today because of the disruptioncaused to transport services. She pleaded: “Just give the public a warning the next time. We ended up spending quite a lot of money on a taxi.”