The Minister for Transport, Mr Cullen, has said the Government remains committed to reforming the bus market, but in a spirit of partnership.

Addressing the annual dinner of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, the Minister said he wanted effective reform but hopefully with the input of CIÉ staff. He said significant investment had been made in public transport, but this needed to be supplemented by "better value for money, improved performance and customer focus in our public services".

"It is in this context that the Government has proposed reform of the 70-year-old bus regulatory framework and the 50-year-old monopoly structure of public transport," he said.

"The employees of CIÉ are key stakeholders in the public transport system. Many have invested a lifetime in delivering public transport. I intend to seek to move forward with delivering effective reform in a spirit of partnership. There may be many difficult issues for us to address but, if we can move forward in a spirit of genuine and open dialogue, I remain confident we can deliver a better-performing, more accountable and customer-focused public transport system," he told the audience.

Mr Cullen also addressed the controversial issue of a congestion charge, such as already in place in London.

"There are those who suggest that Dublin's transport problems could be solved by congestion charges and London is being quoted as the best experience in that regard. I believe that congestion charges ... should only be considered for Dublin when we have fully evaluated the many measures now being put in place to improve public transport," he said.

"In other words, we will only know if a problem remains to be addressed when the M50 is completed, when the Port Tunnel is handling thousands of trucks and cars each day, when the DART and suburban rail are operating at greatly enhanced capacity, and further traffic-management measures are in place."

Also at the dinner, Mr David Pierce, the chamber president, said Dublin needed an elected mayor with serious responsibilities and a budget "to ensure we remain at the top of the premier league of capital cities".

"Commercial rates have risen at double the rate of inflation over the last decade ... The real cost of running our city is a threat to our international competitiveness," said Mr Pierce.