Back on the Buses.

Many years ago one of the better British comedies was the Reg Varney centred On The Buses.

But there were few laughs emerging from the comments by Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar, who fitting the Fintan O'Toole coined term 'austerity sadist', said that he would rather see a resumption of the strike than any outcome that would not lead to the savings demanded by the company.

Despite the bellicose remark by the minister there has been a resolution of the dispute subject to approval by the union membership.  National Rail and Bus Union General Secretary Michael Faherty claimed that core pay had been protected. However, Bus Éireann will not pay its staff who took strike action.

The commuting public will welcome an end to the action due to the disruption to services which in turn had a knock on effect in terms of work schedules. The invisible cost to the economy from work disruption is at this stage difficult to estimate.

Striking workers at RTE from the 1970s.

Purchase framed photographs @ Irish Photo Archive