Four simple questions for Minister Donohoe Friday 1st May 2015, Dublin. Chair of Dublin City Council's Special Policy Committee on Transport, Cllr Ciarán Cuffe, has said today that the blame for the strike by Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus lies with Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe, due to his failure to provide clarity over the Government's long-term transport policy. Cuffe requested that the Minister make a genuine engagement with unions over both the future of their jobs and public transport, and that both sides find a basis for agreement from the Minister's answers to the questions he outlined. Cuffe said: "This strike was avoidable. No one expects the Minister to cave to every demand of the unions, but his failure to answer genuine questions about the future of national transport policy has created a vacuum and deep suspicion about this Government's motives. "I have four simple questions which the Minister should answer: 1) Will the contracting of services be limited to 10% of the Dublin route network, and if so, what are the the benefits from that level of intervention? 2) What is his long-term strategy for the use of existing bus depots, where real inefficiencies exist? 3) How will he answer concerns that the rules governing the proposed awarding of contracts will exclude smaller Irish operators and reward instead larger international transport companies? 4) Will he set out what protections will exist for the terms and conditions for new drivers, and not just those already employed by Dublin Bus? "The reality is that this strike does no one any good. Public transport services will be crippled both financially and see their reputation suffer from this disruption, and it inconveniences the travelling public in an unacceptable way. Both sides should return to the table and find a basis for agreement on the Minister's replies to the questions above."