Shane Ross faces busy time as new Transport Minister

One of the first issues for new Minister for Transport Shane Ross will be the worsening industrial dispute at the Luas light rail system in Dublin. Luas drivers are due to serve notice this week for further strikes to take place in June.

The drivers, who are seeking improvements in pay and conditions, have staged 10 strikes to date and are scheduled to stop work again on May 13th, May 20th, May 26th (four-hour strike from 3pm–7pm) and May 27th.

The intensification of the dispute and potential rows over pay elsewhere in the public transport sector comes as Mr Ross acknowledged that he had a long history in his career as a journalist who produced tough commentary on semi-State companies such as the CIÉ group and on trade unions.

‘Strange goings-on’

In his column in the

Sunday Independent

Mr Ross wrote: “I suddenly recalled that my views on semi-states in permanent convalescence – like CIÉ – are well-documented, that I wrote a whole chapter in a book about the very strange goings-on in Iarnród Éireann, that I once suggested that all fares should be restricted to €1 and that there should be wholesale culling of the boards of quangos. I am really looking forward to my first meeting with some of the organisations which have received harsh criticism in this column.

“God knows how the bearded trade unionist Jack O’Connor and I will get on if we ever have to sit across the table over the Luas strike or any other dispute. Everyone says he is a really nice, committed guy, but we have a bit of history . . . ”

Mr Ross also said that the Economic Management Council had been abolished.