Updated 8.58am
SOUTHBOUND DARTS HAVE been disrupted by a passenger falling ill on the packed train as the bus strike continues in the capital.
Iarnród Éireann says that services are resuming but that delays of up to 40 minutes have been experienced through Lansdowne station as an ambulance was called for the passenger.
The disruption comes as commuters are dealing with the fourth day of industrial action and Dublin Bus says the strike has so far cost the company €4 million.
Drivers are on strike again today with 15 more strike days planned up until the end of October.
Yesterday, Transport Minister Shane Ross again refused to get involved in the dispute saying it “could be interpreted as a commitment to open the State chequebook.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said the minister’s position “isn’t acceptable”:
We can’t have a situation where this industrial dispute is escalating and we have commuters that are being seriously put out as a result of this strike. We have seen congestion in Dublin yesterday, there are another 13 days planned.
“What he needs to do is first say that Dublin Bus needs to engage with the unions in the Workplace Relations Court and there needs to be no preconditions,” Doherty added.
Dublin Bus has said in a statement that it is “disappointed” that the strike is ongoing and that “customers are being significantly discommoded”.
Siptu however claims that the company has “little interest” in resolving the strike and points to the fact that Dublin Bus has yet to make any pay raise offer beyond the Labour Court recommended rise that has already been rejected.
Staff at Dublin Bus rejected a Labour Court recommended 8.25% increase over the next three years.
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.
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