Ross criticised by ministers over his ‘odd’ stance on Bus Éireann strike
MINISTERS have criticised Transport Minister Shane Ross’s failure to intervene in the Bus Éireann dispute.
Mr Ross has consistently said that he will not get involved in negotiations between bus drivers and management.
An all out strike of Bus Éireann services hit the country nationally on Friday. All bus services and some rail services were affected.
Mr Ross said he is ‘deeply concerned’ at the impact the strike will have on the public but again stated it was up to unions and management — and not him — to solve the financial crisis at the firm.
He won support from some Cabinet colleagues, notably from the man who holds the purse strings.
Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe said: ‘Minister Ross has made very clear, and I support him in this, that the answer to dealing with the difficulties that are there is not always about making more money available.’ However other ministers have been critical of the stance he has taking, with one calling it ‘odd’.
‘There isn’t much going on with the buses at the moment. I saw Ross’s statement that he will categorically not get involved in the buses. It’s an interesting stance,’ said a minister who did not want to named. ‘I like Shane, however, imagine the Communications Minister came out and said he didn’t want to have anything to do with a postal dispute, or the the Minister for Health came out and said he couldn’t have anything to do with a nurses dispute?’
A colleague said that there were many ways that a minister can influence resolution.
‘As minister you can’t be sitting in the room doing the negotiations, I get that piece. But what you can do is set the tone and the climate for the discussions,’ he said.
‘A lot of us would work very hard to set the right tone to resolve the dispute. A lot of us are very involved in these disputes.
‘What the minister can do is ring all the stakeholders and say, “what’s going on here? What’s the bottom line?” He can begin to feed it back to his officials and give political direction.’
Oireachtas Transport Committee member Mick Barry TD sharply criticised Mr Ross last night for his ‘do nothing’ approach to the dispute.
The Solidarity TD for Cork North Central said: ‘Shane Ross has been a disgrace on this issue since day one.
‘His do-nothing approach merely facilitates the low pay and privatisation agendas and he knows it.’
Mr Ross did not respond to requests for comment.
Criticism of him comes as the dispute showed no sign of resolution over the weekend.
General Secretary of the National Bus and Rail Workers’ Union, Dermot O’Leary, said last night that the all-out strike was due to continue indefinitely.
‘He’s been a disgrace on this issue’