Ireland

More than 100 people turned out in Clonmel on Thursday night to protest against the decision by Bus Éireann to close the town’s regular service to Dublin, the Irish Times reported. The “Save Our Bus” meeting was organised by the National Bus and Railworkers Union (NBRU) in response to Bus Éireann’s cost-cutting plans which the company says are necessary as part of efforts to stave off insolvency plans. The X7 route, Dublin-Clonmel, is one of three to be axed by Bus Éireann, with its eight daily services each way.

Faced by the industrial relations equivalent of a perfect storm, Bus Éireann stopped short yesterday of proceeding immediately with some of the most controversial elements of a survival plan it says is essential to its future, the Irish Times reported. But the decision to go ahead with 55 other changes brought a swift – and probably inevitable – response. The National Bus and Rail Union and Siptu said they would begin an all-out strike if the changes are implemented as planned next Monday. Extreme positions have been on display at Bus Éireann for some time.

An all-out indefinite strike in Bus Éireann, which could spread to other parts of the public transport sector, now seems likely after the collapse of talks on Tuesday aimed at resolving the financial crisis at the company, the Irish Times reported. The board and management of the State-owned transport company are expected to consider on Wednesday whether to press ahead with highly controversial cuts to staff earnings as part of a survival plan. Unions representing the 2,600 staff at the company warned of an all-out strike if Bus Éireann moved unilaterally to impose cuts to pay.

Geoffrey Stevenson, who was in charge of exploration company Petroceltic’s prime asset in the Algerian desert until the company was bought out of examinership last year following a bitter takeover battle, is taking on the new owners of the business in the High Court in Dublin, the Irish Times reported. Mr Stevenson was not an employee of Petroceltic prior to the takeover by Swiss-Cayman Islands fund Worldview Capital, but rather he was a consultant and also project director at Petroceltic’s Ain Tsila gas field project in Algeria.

The Central Bank has sold a further €500 million of bonds that were linked to the restructuring four years ago of the bailout of now-defunct Anglo Irish Bank, the Irish Times reported. The Central Bank received €25 billion of government bonds in February 2013 under a complex restructuring of promissory notes used by the State during the financial crisis to rescue the bank, which was subsequently named Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC). IBRC had been using the promissory notes as collateral for emergency funding at the Central Bank.

The Government will seek EU funding to help businesses affected by the UK’s departure from the union, the Taoiseach said on Wednesday afternoon, in a major speech on the Coalition’s Brexit policy. Speaking at an Institute of International and European Affairs event at the Mansion House in Dublin, the Taoiseach said that “stabilisation and adjustment measures” for the businesses most affected by Brexit will be funded by the Government, the Irish Times reported. He said support for these measures will be sought from Brussels.

The Minister for Transport Shane Ross needs to realise that the only solution to the crisis at Bus Éireann will be for him to convene talks involving all stakeholders, including the Department of Transport and the National Transport Authority, unions have argued. Management at the company is expected to reiterate to an Oireachtas committee on Wednesday that the State-owned transport operator faces running out of money within the next 18 months or so and that all 2,600 jobs in the company are in jeopardy, the Irish Times reported.

Belgian-based KBC Group’s €5 billion funding line to its Irish unit is likely to help persuade the group to remain in the Republic as it announces the result of a strategic review in two weeks’ time, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank, the Irish Times reported. KBC Group, in Ireland since 1978, is considering whether to develop the Dublin-based unit, which cost €1.4 billion to bail out during the financial crisis, into a bank-insurance company, grow the lender organically, or sell the business entirely. The review has been underway for at least a year.

Bus Éireann will seek the intervention of the Labour Court if trade unions do not agree to take part in talks on its survival plan for the company. However, a spokeswoman for the company said any such process must take place over a period of weeks, not months. The company said its losses were accelerating, the Irish Times reported. A number of unions have said they will not accept an invitation by the company to attend talks next week to discuss radical proposals, including redundancies and cuts to premium payments and allowances as well as out-sourcing.

Irish financier Paul Coulson’s Ardagh Group unveiled plans to refinance almost $1.3 billion (€1.2 billion) of debt due in two years’ time as the glass and metal containers manufacturer lays the ground for an initial public offering in the coming months, the Irish Times reported. The company said on Thursday it was launching the sale of $1 billion of senior bonds that will mature in 2025.