The Public Transport Authority (ADT) is to deduct €60,000 a day from the subsidy given to the bus owners for as long as the bus owners remain on strike, it was announced this afternoon.

The government has also stopped the subsidy it gives bus owners for the insurance of their vehicles.

The measures were announced in a letter by the ADT to the Public Transport Association in the wake of the strike by public transport operators.

The ADT said the industrial action had no basis at law and it had not been informed of any problem with the bus owners. The authority was therefore calling for the service to be resumed immediately, saying it was immoral that even essential services had been stopped.

The authority said it would take all the necessary actions to provide an efficient and safe service to the people.