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'It certainly must stick in the craw of the workers' - Shane Ross lambasted for photo of night out with Amanda Brunker

Talks aimed at bringing the Bus Éireann strike to an end broke down this morning.

Updated 18.17

SOLIDARITY/PEOPLE BEFORE PROFIT have taken aim at Transport Minister Shane Ross for remaining aloof from the ongoing Bus Éireann strike talks.

Earlier today, those talks broke down without agreement meaning the strike is set to continue for the foreseeable future.

Speaking to the media this afternoon outside Leinster House, Solidarity TDs Richard Boyd Barrett and Ruth Coppinger suggested that the public should be behind the striking workers as “their fight is your fight”.

Boyd Barrett in particular took aim at a photo Ross had found himself in with socialite Amanda Brunker, in which he is seen sporting a feather boa at a recent fundraising night at Naomh Olaf GAA club in Sandyford, south Dublin.

“I didn’t see photo, but it certainly must stick in the craw of the workers who’ve been out on the picket line for 18 days, whose families are suffering, who don’t want to be on strike, but who have no choice but to protect themselves from savage cuts to their pay, and the likelihood that their jobs themselves can be taken from them,” he said.

It really is pretty insulting, that Shane Ross won’t engage with them but seems to be able to enjoy himself.

The photo was taken on Sunday at a fundraiser for new changing rooms for Naomh Olaf’s female teams, an event that the Minister apparently agreed to attend some months ago, according to Brunker (who DailyEdge.ie reports is on very friendly terms with Ross).

“Shane Ross’ ideology is opposed to the public sector, to unions. He was out getting the thumbs up from Michael O’Leary and I think that says it all about the direction that he’d like to see Bus Éireann and other companies take,” said Coppinger.

bus eir The cheque being presented outside the gates of Leinster House Facebook / Solidarity Facebook / Solidarity / Solidarity

The Solidarity TDs presented a cheque for €2,000 to the striking workers “to assist them in their struggle”, money sourced from the party’s own coffers.

“We we opposed the pay rise for TDs, none of us takes more than the average industrial wage, and the excess is used for exactly this kind of thing, to support ordinary people because that benefits change in society,” said Coppinger.

Earlier

In a statement this morning, the company said that the talks at the Workplace Relations Commission had been unsuccessful.

They said that progress had been made on some issues, but an overall deal not reached.

“After 16 days of intensive negotiations at the Workplace Relations Commission, talks have broken down without agreement. The unions have now referred a number of issues to the Labour Court and the company have agreed to attend. The company have sought an early hearing given the urgency of the financial situation.

“While progress was made and agreement was reached to eliminate many work practise inefficiencies, an offer made by the company that would help to deliver financial viability was rejected by the Trade Unions representing the driver grade.

“We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused as a result of the ongoing industrial action.

“Bus Éireann would like to sincerely thank the Workplace Relations Commission for facilitating talks and assisting the company through this process.”

The National Bus and Rail Union said that “other agencies” had influenced the talks.

“The Trade Unions, as part of this process were prepared to contribute upwards of €18m towards the savings required to resolve the financial crisis.

“It would appear to us that other agencies that were not party to the discussions at the WRC have been applying undue influence on the proceedings, restricting the ability of Bus Éireann to actually reach agreement, the issues between the parties will now be referred to the Labour Court for consideration, it would seem that there are forces at play here which would prefer to see the demise of Bus Éireann, rather than concentrate on securing its future, for the benefit of staff and commuters alike.”

The strike is now into its 19th day.

Additional reporting Cianan Brennan and Christina Finn

First published 7am

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164 Comments
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    Mute Patrick Presley
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    Oct 26th 2023, 8:49 AM

    Enough punishment has been administered for the moment.

    186
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    Mute Donal Ronan
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    Oct 26th 2023, 9:08 AM

    Oops! Less profit for our robber banks, seeing as this is where they make most of their profits, lodging our deposits with the ECB.
    Just another way of socialising their profits at European taxpayers expense.

    97
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    Mute did you every wonder
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    Oct 26th 2023, 1:55 PM

    @Donal Ronan: But we have a regulator, apparently, that keeps prices in check !. Works great for energy and food prices !. Tax payers money at work.

    23
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    Mute larry smith
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    Oct 26th 2023, 9:03 AM

    A bank is being robbed by two gunmen . Everything went smoothly , quickly and quietly ,however before exiting the bank one gunman says to the other what kind of robbery is this if know one is injured or killed “you’re right kill that woman over there “says the other gunman ,
    What’s your name he asks the cashier the woman feebly replied Sophia,
    I can’t kill her as my wife is call Sophia,ok kill the man beside her ,hey fella what’s your name ,,Billy says the man but everyone calls me Sophia .

    108
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    Mute Liam Foy
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    Oct 26th 2023, 11:01 AM

    In what do we believe a bunch of very wealthy individuals in the ECB hiking interest rates, how well expert with experience are they. Lagarde is no expert but she leads the charge. Inflation has got much worse and still the EU has no idea how to contain it like the Japanese at their 3%. But their we go punishing decision for the average family is put off into some future date.

    37
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    Mute Roy Kenneally
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    Oct 26th 2023, 1:39 PM

    @Liam Foy: Inflation isn’t worse. It was 8.6% in Sept 2022 and 5% in Sept 2023, ie. slowing down. It means the price of things are still going up, but not as quickly.

    13
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    Mute Paddy C
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    Oct 26th 2023, 1:48 PM

    Lagarde said when she was here ‘she feels our pain’ doubt that somehow on her salary, pushing people into arrears and possibly homeless great work alright.

    34
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    Mute Timo
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    Oct 26th 2023, 12:08 PM

    And lucky to get 1.5% on a 5 year deposit account.
    What a joke

    28
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    Mute Pato
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    Oct 26th 2023, 9:39 AM

    Have the idiots in the ECB finally recognised what everyone else knew all along, that hiking rates the way they did would eventually cause inflation rather than cure i

    78
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    Mute Monetpenny
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    Oct 26th 2023, 12:33 PM

    @Pato: no. They didn’t get it during & in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 financial crash either. It is written in a widely read economics textbook somewhere that to control inflation (no matter what the cause or type of inflation) you must (‘MUST’ I tell ya) increase interest rates. So they do it.
    If inflation is ‘imported’ or is caused by government lockdowns & subsequent spending to stimulate an economy the government sedated or wars or foreign government policies that affect energy supply & costs it doesn’t matter.
    We don’t stop those wars. We don’t reverse government policy & increase energy supply.
    We increase interest rates.

    22
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    Mute Mick Duvanny
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    Oct 26th 2023, 1:41 PM

    @Monetpenny: See Turkey for what happens when you reduce interest rates during high inflation

    13
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    Mute Eddie Garvey
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    Oct 26th 2023, 3:36 PM

    They printed so much money to keep the economies booming, which had the effect of devaluing our money and our wages, which caused inflation to strike, then they massively increased interest rates to stop people spending the money they added to the system. They are literally making it up as they go along to ensure the wealthy stay wealthy

    20
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    Mute World Taekwondo Association Master Sheamus
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    Oct 26th 2023, 11:02 AM

    About Time, Seriously

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    Mute Des Leavy
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    Oct 26th 2023, 10:51 AM

    Comments Closed

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    Mute Jonathan Hanlon
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    Oct 26th 2023, 1:35 PM

    Please start dropping

    14
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    Mute Alan Fitzgerald
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    Oct 26th 2023, 2:45 PM

    Surely a huge chunk of inflation is down to energy price increases and interest rates increases will have little to no effect on these. Government tax and excise increases also fuels the fire and again interest rates won’t effect these.

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    Mute R Incognito
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    Oct 26th 2023, 2:32 PM

    My fixed rate @ 2.6% is ending in November. Should I re-fix @ 4.15% ( lowest fixed rate available to me ) or stay on a variable @ 4.50% and wait and see if things improve ? I don’t know what to do :-(

    7
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    Mute Paddy C
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    Oct 28th 2023, 9:25 AM

    @R Incognito: very hard one to answer,Im on tracker and my mortgage is up through the roof now for not fixing it and I was also advised to fix it unless I was sure I could keep up with rising payments but if I fix tracker is gone and too long left to go,the only thing I would say is if you could fix it short term at least you wouldnt be after commiting to it too much,a long fixed rate is a nightmare if rates drop, we were on fixed years ago of 5.4 and crash came and rates dropped and losing a fortune had to pay 4,600 to break out of it for the mortgage to drop 400 a month so my advice is if it’s variable try short term fixed especially now that they’re pausing increases

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    Mute
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    Oct 26th 2023, 2:07 PM

    Increasing interest rates to combat this inflation is very close to being useless. Majority of the inflation is a result of the increase in oil prices and from the war in Ukraine affecting supply of various commodities including grain. A serious question for ECB, how does increasing interest rates change oil prices or increase supply of commodities. Wouldn’t it more effective having more constructive negotiation with the Saudis and other oil producers. Also putting a ceiling on the price of basic goods, bread, eggs, pasta, etc. Increasing interest rates was always a possibility of causing recession, plus more unnecessary pain for the less well off.

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    Mute John Moore
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    Oct 26th 2023, 3:43 PM

    Rising interest rates is the only tool that the ECB have to combat inflation. But it can only do so much unless you really want to jack up rates and cause a pretty bad recession. But ECB technocrats act as though tinkering with rates contains all of the answers. It’s mostly for show to look as though they are doing something. About half of the price rises are through companies profiteering. Banks are not passing on nearly enough of the windfall through deposit rates. Whatever way the consumer turns they lose.

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    Mute
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    Oct 26th 2023, 11:00 AM

    I have many money

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    Mute Michael Burke
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    Oct 26th 2023, 1:57 PM

    And few brains cells.

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