Bus Éireann recruiting 150 new drivers to avoid repeat of Sunday's cancellations 

National Bus and Railworkers Union general secretary Dermot O’Leary called for the promised forum on public transport to be convened. Stock picture

Bus Éireann is recruiting 150 new drivers to tackle the staff shortages that contributed to 2.5% of all journeys being cancelled last week.

The company said that although last week was "challenging",  it was not typical of the service, which has operated approximately 99% of all journeys this year.

Bus Éireann has already recruited 100 new drivers and is looking to recruit 150 more in full-time, part-time, and seasonal positions. 

"Reasons for cancellations vary by location, including recruitment, driver availability often at short notice and more difficulty in hiring private contractors to support services where required," a statement from Bus Éireann said.

Dermot O’Leary, general secretary of the National Bus and Railworkers Union (NBRU), said that staff recruitment and retention is currently a problem in the transport sector, as it is in many industries.

“People have left Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus because of work-life balance reasons, child minding. The shift patterns and anti-social hours can become a bigger problem at times of relatively full employment,” Mr O’Leary said.

He said that it was necessary for the National Transport Authority and Bus Éireann to look at the drivers’ shift structures and to develop more family-friendly rosters with the unions to help the service retain and attract staff.

Bus Éireann has already recruited 100 new drivers and is looking to recruit 150 more in full-time, part-time, and seasonal positions. Stock picture

Mr O’Leary also called for the forum on public transport, which was promised in the current Programme for Government, to be held. He believes such a forum could help resolve some of the issues like recruitment which the transport sector is currently grappling with.

Mr O'Leary also called for gardaí on public transport after chaos erupted in Bray on Sunday when people opened the doors of a train and passengers flooded onto the tracks after it stopped before reaching a station platform.

He said that Sunday's incident points to the wider problems of often unchecked antisocial behaviour on trains which is of great concern to workers and passengers.

Although he empathised with passengers on the Dart service to Bray on Sunday in which people were in a busy, hot train with insufficient air conditioning and windows which would not open, had there been a garda presence the voluntary evacuation of the train may have been avoided, he said. 

“We’re calling again for dedicated gardaí in the public transport division. If there was more policing, we may not have the situation we had on Sunday."

An Garda Síochána said that gardaí in the Dublin Metropolitan Region carry out both overt and covert operations specifically targeting public transport including Luas, Buses, Dart, and Trains on an ongoing basis to address issues of anti-social behaviour or any other criminal offences.

Stations not being adequately staffed was also a contributing factor to Sunday’s chaos, Mr O'Leary said. Had staff been present, the train could have been directed to a platform more quickly, he said.