‘Give share options to CIE staff’, Shane Ross proposes

Transport Minister Shane Ross is proposing a radical scheme to offer share options to 11,000 CIE employees, in order to “give them a few bob” and make them feel better.

Mr Ross said that the CIE companies — Irish Rail, Bus Éireann, and Dublin Bus — are “unviable financially” without the State subvention of €255m each year.

It is understood that the proposal has angered Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and his officials but Mr Ross is pushing ahead with it.