The Department of Transport has retained accounting and consultancy firm Deloitte to look at the financial implications of any further industrial action at Dublin Bus.
A three-day strike at the State-owned transport company in August saw it stripped of €423,000 from its State subvention by the National Transport Authority in addition to the loss of fares.
Drivers, who have previously rejected a number of cost-saving initiatives aimed at reducing costs by about €11 million this year, are to ballot again this week on new proposals.
The Department of Transport was unavailable to comment on the retention of Deloitte yesterday. But informed sources played down reports that Deloitte was to advise on a possible liquidation of Dublin Bus.
Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar and Minister of State Alan Kelly last week warned that the outlook for Dublin Bus and its employees was "very stark" if a final effort to resolve a dispute over cost-savings did not succeed.
The Ministers welcomed the publication of final proposals by former trade union official Noel Dowling and management consultant Ultan Courtney to resolve the dispute over cost-savings, and they urged drivers at the company to accept them.
“We have to recognise that if Mr Dowling and Mr Courtney’s recommendations are not accepted, no realistic alternatives exist.
“Unfortunately, more than a year’s negotiation . . . has identified no other solution to the financial challenges facing the company,” the Ministers said.
