Strike shows a country of two nations - Bus Éireann

WHEN Transport Minister Shane Ross prepared to appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Transport yesterday, he had a choice of mode of transport: he could have taken a bus to Leinster House from his home or his constituency office in south Dublin or strolled the brisk walk from his department’s main office on Leeson Lane to Kildare Street. 

He could not, as yet, have enjoyed the comforts of the new Luas Cross City service. That particular pleasure will have to wait until December.

However, had he been visiting his department’s office in Loughrea, Co Galway, he would have had to either drive there and back, be driven by a chauffeur, hire a taxi, use a private bus or, like many of his fellow citizens are being forced to do, put out his thumb and hitch a lift to his place of work. The Minister for Transport would not have had access to public transport.