Bus Éireann coaches and a smattering of Dublin Bus double deckers were the only evidence of public transport in Dublin city centre by 11 o'clock this morning as a four-stoppage by transport workers hit the capital.
a driver from the Broadstone depot.
The coaches were late stragglers, going in to Busaras to park up before the drivers headed for Parnell Square to join colleagues protesting against plans to break-up CIÉ.
The coaches were empty by 11 a.m. but the few double-deckers were full - with CIÉ workers bussed in from city depots to join a march of 800 workers to Kildare Street to make their feelings felt at the Department of Transport.
"We built this company up over the past decade and made it profitable. Now the Minster wants to give it to private enterprise for purely ideological reasons," a driver from the Broadstone depot who asked not to be identified said.
Dublin Bus receives a €50 million State subvention but recorded a €3 million surplus last year. Unions say the State subvention is one of the lowest of any capital city in Europe.
Mr Mark Fitzpatrick, a SIPTU rep at CIÉ said the Minister had been ignoring "the complaints and needs" of the workers "to pursue his right-wing agenda".
"His intention is not improve public transport - this is a full-frontal attack to break up CIÉ," Mr Fitpatrick said.
Clerical and maintenance staff were among the protesters who believe the plan to franchise 25 per cent of bus routes will lead to a reduction in their pay and working conditions.
Ms Sinead McDaid, a Dublin Bus driver from the Phibsboro depot, said workers' pensions were also are stake. "The Government is attacking all the public services: the prisons, the bins, Aer Rianta . . . staff will be made work for half their current wages if privatisation is allowed to go ahead," she said.
Marching workers were insistent this morning that their action was designed to cause minimal disruption to the public.
"That's why stopped between 11 and three. We brought people to work and we we're going to bring them home again," a coach driver on the Intercity said. "We've no desire to strike. We want public support because we're only trying to protect out jobs."