Once again the state has been crippled by what is, de facto, a national public transport strike. It seems that, in certain areas, we never learn. Efforts to change the culture in CIE since previous stoppages have borne little effective fruit.

Is it right that some public transport staff should be asked to live on the miserly wages available? No. Is it right they should have to work extensive overtime to make a decent living? No. But equally, is it right that the customer should be held to ransom by archaic work practices that serve only the staff? Again, no.

The answer, as even the Government appears to be coming around to accepting, is ultimately to introduce competition in public transport.

Until then we will continue to suffer the inevitable chaos at the hands of bad and underfunded service, bedevilled by political interference, poor management, low staff morale and archaic practices - the classic recipe for State-sponsored monopolies the world over.