asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will direct Córas Iompair Éireann to provide sufficient buses for the summer traffic between Cork and Crosshaven and Cork and Fountainstown, and request the company not to compel passengers returning from Fountainstown to Cork to leave their bus at Crosshaven and take their place in a queue after having already queued at Fountainstown.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Cork Bus Services.
Córas Iompair Éireann inform me that when their vehicle position improves they will consider the needs of this and other areas where there is a demand for improved bus services. Passengers from Fountainstown have to change at Crosshaven on Sundays because the company are unable to put on sufficient buses to cater for the whole route between Cork and Fountainstown. Most of the traffic is between Cork and Crosshaven.
Is the Minister aware that buses leave Fountainstown filled with passengers for Cork and where is the necessity for emptying these buses at Crosshaven when they are already filled with passengers for Cork? In regard to the first part of the question, is the Minister aware that last week a bus conductor on this route was fined £5 for carrying excess passengers? Will the Minister ensure, by providing extra buses, that he will not place these bus conductors in the position that they will have to face heavy penalties like these for trying to facilitate the public?
Would the Minister consider the utilisation by Córas Iompair Éireann of double-decker buses between Cork and Crosshaven, particularly on Sundays?
I am sure Deputies will appreciate that the real difficulty is that there are not enough buses and, of course, there is the added difficulty that there is a scarcity of Diesel oil. I am informed by the company that in so far as possible they are doing all they can to meet the demands made on them by the public. I understand in relation to the Fountainstown-Cross-haven service that the main traffic is to Crosshaven and that it is in order to facilitate the Fountainstown people that they have made this arrangement.
The main difficulty arises as regards people who are travelling from Fountainstown to Cork. If the Minister cannot get the company to provide sufficient buses will he use his influence with the Minister for Justice to see that unfortunate bus conductors who try to facilitate the public by carrying extra passengers are not subjected to such heavy penalties?
Is the Minister aware that if the suggestion of Deputy McGrath were carried out it would certainly mean an additional hardship on passengers using the Cork-Cross-haven service which is the main service?
Would the Minister——
Question 4.