Businesses in the immediate area of the Bus Station in Sligo say their trade is down in some cases by half as a result of the strike.
Workers at Bus Eireann including bus-drivers, clerical staff and garage staff are on strike now for over a week.
The strike escalated this morning leading to a ‘wildcat’ strike in Dublin where Irish Rail, Dublin bus and Dart services were all affected.
It affected early morning train services from Sligo train station as well, however, all train services have now resumed from Sligo after this action was called off earlier.
But the bus strike continues with all local Bus Eireann Services affected.
Damien Healy is on the National Executive of the NBRU in the North West – he says its disappointing that it takes disruption in Dublin for the Transport Minister to wake up and make a comment when the rest of the country has been crippled by this strike for the past week.
He says they don’t want to be here as they have families and are not getting paid during this action but he says they have no choice:
Meanwhile across the road, business is now being affected by the strike.
The Railway Bar Pub, a chipper and the Centra shop are always busy locations.
However, this morning, the Railway Bar was empty.
The manager there told Ocean FM News that his business is down by 50% day on day.
Many people young and old come into the bar while waiting for buses and trains but he says since Tuesday of last week their business has been halved.
Next door in Centra, co-owner Des Cosgrove agrees.
He told Ocean FM today that the strike will affect their staff in the coming days too as while so far they have maintained hours but they may be forced to look at the situation again:
