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Minister says Luas plan for St Patrick's Day buses is an 'exceptional measure'

The company that operates the service will be providing buses along the red and green line routes as drivers strike on Thursday.

MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT Paschal Donohoe has described a plan by Luas operator Transdev to hire private buses during a Luas strike on St Patrick’s Day as an “exceptional fallback measure”.

Speaking on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics, Donohoe said the decision to bring in a bus service was taken to cater for a public holiday.

However, he said he hoped a solution could be reached that would avert planned strike action and ensure the back-up measure was not required.

Transdev announced on Friday that it planned to provide a bus to transport passengers between Dublin city centre and park-and-ride stops every 10 minutes on Thursday.

The National Bus and Rail Union has criticised the move as “Thatcherite”, saying the company is using what amounts to “scab labour” to undermine its workers.

Luas drivers are due to strike on St Patrick’s Day, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, as well as on 2, 3, 23 and 24 April.

They are seeking better working conditions and wage increases of up to 30% over the next five years – pay claims Transdev says it cannot afford.

Management are due to resume talks with three of four staff grades at the company on Monday. Discussions with the Siptu-represented drivers broke down last week.

Read: St Patrick’s Day bus service to counter Luas strike described as “scab labour”

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124 Comments
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    Mute Gearóid MacEachaidh
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    Jan 31st 2023, 5:22 PM

    Not surprising. Tescos are making a fortune here.

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    Mute S
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    Jan 31st 2023, 5:56 PM

    ‘Treasure Island’ is what Tescos called Ireland some years back. Making an absolute mint here with their astronomical prices.

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    Mute offtheball
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    Jan 31st 2023, 6:14 PM

    @S: they’re not charging any more than any of their rivals. Best best is to shop around them all for the best value.

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    Mute Sean Higgins
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    Jan 31st 2023, 7:03 PM

    The large supermarkets are slowly forming a cartel, the discount stores included. They are all about price matching not price beating. Very little difference between any of them.

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    Mute Peter
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    Feb 1st 2023, 11:56 AM

    @Sean Higgins:

    Yeah I only said that last night. They should be beating them and not matching them. The same with Harvey Norman with their ads saying they’ll match but if they couldn’t beat in the first place then I’d prefer to buy whatever it was at the original lower price with who offered it.

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    Mute Simon Eales
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    Jan 31st 2023, 5:58 PM

    Anyone else notice the obvious price differences for the same items between their Express and bigger stores? I wonder if it’s the same in the UK.

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    Mute Bunny Johnson
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    Jan 31st 2023, 6:27 PM

    @Simon Eales: Yes. Can confirm. Tesco express and others express stores always charge more. I assumed they were franchises.

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    Mute Tomo
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    Jan 31st 2023, 8:52 PM

    @Simon Eales: Kinda makes sense cause isn’t Tesco Express just a glorified centra? It’s just a convenience store.

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    Mute Feargal Garvin
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    Jan 31st 2023, 5:58 PM

    Reacting to competition from soup kitchens and food banks

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