Who will be affected if the strikes go ahead?
The likelihood is that all Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann services nationwide will come to a halt on 7 days in May. Up to 500,000 people could be affected on some days of the planned industrial action. On average Dublin Bus carries 410,000 passengers on a Friday and approximately 253,000 on a Saturday, while Bus Éireann has estimated the industrial action could affect 40,000-50,000 of its passengers. Bus Éireann said 843,000 bus journeys would be hit over the seven days.

What is this dispute about?
The planned strike action at Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann centres on opposition by unions at the companies to moves by the National Transport Authority to put out to tender 10 per cent of routes currently operated by the State-owned transport firms. The unions fear that if the routes are privatised following this tender process this would result in a deterioration of their members' terms and conditions if they had to move to private operators.

Do the drivers have a point?
On the one hand the Government and the National Transport Authority have pointed out that as Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann can compete in the proposed tendering process the routes could remain in the hands of the public sector companies. However the unions have doubts over any assurances given by the Government on pay, conditions and pensions for members who have to transfer to a private sector operator that won a route contract. Unions point to the recent Greyhound waste dispute where management sought to reduce previously agreed terms and conditions once bin collections were privatised.

What is the Government saying?
Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe has to date fully backed the plans by the National Transport Authority to put out to tender 10 per cent of the routes operated by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann. He has said that introducing tendering for some bus routes traditionally operated by State companies had the potential to save taxpayers' money.

The country has industrial relations troubleshooting systems. Why can't they be used to stop the dispute?
The tendering of routes was already the subject of a process at the Labour Relations Commission for several months but this collapsed at the end of March.

What will happen next? Will there be any intervention to head off the strikes?
The companies have urged the unions to go back to the Labour Relations Commission process. The National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) has said it does not want to be part of any arrangement that facilitated the transfer of its members to the private sector. The NBRU has also initiated a legal challenge to the National Transport Authority's route-tendering plan. Some employment law specialists have argued it could be open to Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann to try to seek an injunction to prevent the strikes.

Could the row escalate further?
Siptu has warned the dispute could escalate further, while the NBRU has warned of a potential " summer of discontent".