Updated 9.05 am
DUBLIN’S RAIL SERVICES were packed full this morning as bus drivers return to pickets and their strike action entered its second week.
Dart services were operating at full capacity with Iarnród Éireann staff reporting that, although it’s been busy, the service has been coping.
Again this week buses were off the road from 9pm last night, a decision taken by Dublin Bus that drivers’ unions say is unnecessary
Drivers say they would have returned buses to depots even if their shift ran later than midnight.
Hundreds of thousands of commuters around the capital are being affected by the action today and tomorrow, with a further two days of stoppages planned on 23 and 24 September.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie at a busy Pearse Street station this morning, a number of students were among those distrupted by the strike.
“I usually get the 145 out to Bray from Heuston Station because I’m travelling from Kildare, but I’m completed f**ked now like, I’m definitely late,” one said.
Another student travelling from outside the capital explains that it makes her commute much harder:
I’m from Meath so it’s like two trains. It is pain because I had to get up earlier and then I have to last the whole day in school. We’re sixth years so we have study and get the whole train home.
All Dublin Bus services are affected by the strike. Here’s what you need to know if you usually use the bus:
Unions are seeking a 15% pay increase over the next three years for drivers and a 6% rise they say they were due to get under an agreement in 2009, but which was deferred.
Dublin Bus claims in a statement that the continued industrial action by trade unions and employees is costing the company in excess of €600,000 each day.
The company claims the six strike days will cost the company €5.5 million and that a 15% pay increase would undermine its financial stability.
It stated: “These mounting costs further diminish our ability to fund the 8.25% recommended by the Labour Court.”
According to a Claire Byrne Live/Amárach poll this week, 38% of the public support the bus drivers’ decision to strike for a 15% pay increase.
- With reporting by Rónán Duffy
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