'We have no alternative'

Tens of thousands of people across the country were left stranded this morning as Bus Éireann worker began an indefinite all-out strike over the company's implementation of cost reduction measures without union agreement.

Commuters in Cavan were among the worst in the country affected as there are no alternative rail services in the county.

Workers are picketing the Cavan Bus Station. Brian Geraghty, SIPTU representative for Bus Eireann in Cavan, told The Anglo-Celt on the picket line this morning (Friday): “We are out on strike because we feel we have no alternative. We are basically here to protect our jobs and our routes and to keep our terms and conditions that have been agreed over the past 25 years. We have been forced out here – we feel we have no option and that is why we are here.”

Mr Geraghty has been in Cavan for 20 years now. “It is a busy depot – everyone knows the 109 - it is a main commuter route. We want to keep what we have – the same with our terms and conditions – we fought hard for them and that is all we want to hold onto.”

He added that the workers are committed to the strike action “as long as it takes”.

Mr Geraghty added: “We apologise to the public. We don't want to be here but we are just left with no alternative – the NTA, Department of Transport, Minister Ross – nobody wants to get involved.”

Patricia Stynes, driver and MBRU representative in Cavan, told the Celt: “We are here to protect our jobs. We are in recovery - in 2017 going up - and yet we are going backwards. In my opinion it looks very blatant. They have wanted to privatise us. This is a prime example of privatising us. It is actually shocking – not only are we bus drivers, but we are agony aunts, mams, dads on the bus. The amount of stuff that we do on the bus, as well as driving, no one ever hears about it.”

She continued: “We are gone long hours of the day, which is never taken into consideration. I would leave here at 6am and I am not home to my family until 6pm in the evening. There are eleven and twelve hour shifts. We work hard for what we get”.

Elsewhere in the country, some Iarnród Éireann services were affected this morning in locations such as Athlone and Limerick where bus and train stations are co-located and train drivers refused to pass pickets, cancelling services.

The company, Bus Éireann, as warned that the strike will worsen the company's financial situation, which it has described as perilous.

Stephen Kent, chief commercial officer, Bus Éireann, has apologised to customers for the 'highly regrettable' inconvenience caused by the strike.

Mr Kent said the company has run out of time and absolutely needs to implement the cost-cutting measures it has put forward.

The strike represents a serious escalation of the Bus Éireann row, which could push the company over the edge.

It lost €9.4m last year and a further €50,000 a day in January. But each strike day will cost another half a million, which the company insists is unsustainable.

A spokesperson for Dublin Bus has said all its services in the city are operating as normal this morning.