We are in public session.
Report on Rural Transport: Discussion.
It is not easy to summarise the rural transport service and compile a report on it. Members may have concerns about some of the recommendations in the report but, I hope the committee will adopt it. If changes are to be made, I am amenable to an input from members who wish to add or delete from it. I would like to have the report completed and published before the end of the year.
It is the first report I have done for a joint committee, so I put it in the hands of the Chairman and I am anxious to have it completed.
I compliment my colleague, Deputy Ring, on this comprehensive report. It is obvious that a great deal of research and analysis was involved. There is an urgency to the report because of the concern in rural Ireland about what the future holds for rural transport. A number of months ago, we had one of the largest meeting where 500 people from every part of the county came together in Donegal to discuss the rural transport service. In the wake of the report of an bord snip nua, there were rumours that rural transport should be scaled back. If the report on rural transport is dealt with now and before the budget, at least our views on rural transport should be available to the Department, the Minister and the Government before the Budget Statement.
Rural transport is a very important service in rural Ireland. There are many parts where public transport as we know it in the city and urban areas is not available. In the part of the country where Senator Doherty and I come from, Bus Éireann does not go into the west. We depend on the availability of the rural transport service. This report addresses many of the issues and comes up with solutions. It is urgent. If at all possible it should be available to the Department and the Minister before budget day.
I welcome our visitors. We are concluding our discussion on the report on rural transport. We then will start the next item.
I welcome this fine report. I concur with Deputy McGinley who made the points I wish to make. Time is of the essence. I accept that not all members will agree with all the recommendations. The Government has not alone clarified the fact that it will continue to support rural transport but that it will attempt to enhance it. In doing so, this report can help this to happen.
I believe as Deputy McGinley stated that we should have the report approved by the committee today, if possible, in order to give the Minister and the Government time to take cognisance of it before agreeing Estimates in the new year. Like Deputy Ring, I have a keen interest in this service as we have an excellent rural transport service in the west Limerick and north Cork area. I know how important this service is to those who use it. Having said that, it should be enhanced and I believe this report can help to do that. The sooner it is adopted by the joint committee, the better. I congratulate Deputy Ring on his report, which I welcome.
I congratulate Deputy Ring on this report. I come from a big sprawling rural constituency, Carlow-Kilkenny, and in many parts of the constituency one is a rural hermit if one does not have a car. One simply cannot get out of the house, as one does not have a transportation system. We have the Ring a Link, the rural transport initiative in our constituency and as Deputy Cregan states, it can be greatly enhanced.
If we want to improve the quality of life in rural Ireland and be mindful of climate change, we need frequent bus services with access to train stations where possible. I wholeheartedly endorse Deputy Ring's report and look forward to studying it in more detail. I would like the committee to adopt the report as a matter of urgency so that the people in our rural constituencies do not have to be hermits in their own homes.
I endorse the report and hope that we will approve it as a matter of urgency. This is one of the most important issues facing rural Ireland. Perhaps we will examine commuter patterns in the context of rural transport and sustainable communities. I commend Deputy Ring on the valuable work he has done.
I commend Deputy Ring on his report, which reveals that the need for rural transport is greater now than ever. The report makes valuable recommendations on the redeployment of out-of-hours dedicated CIE school buses for rural transport.
I am somewhat loth to discuss the social use of buses because considerable ridicule was poured on the idea of a rural transport scheme which would be used to transport people to evening entertainment in bigger towns. Perhaps Deputy Ring can make some suggestions in that regard. Public houses have been urged to provide transport for their customers but that is not always possible. I hope we get another opportunity to discuss the report and agree on its recommendations.
I commend Deputy Ring on his proposals. Concerns arise in regard to certain parts of the report but the Chairman and the Deputy have opened the door to members who may wish to make alternative proposals. We should revisit the report at some point to examine it page by page. Public transport is a critical issue for rural communities and it would not be appropriate to state today that everything in the garden is rosy. The report should be endorsed by the committee and circulated widely but it is also incumbent on us to discuss its pros and cons. I hope we can devote a full session of the committee to the report early in the new year.
I welcome this significant report. I am not a rural Deputy but I recognise the importance of rural transport. I have several comments to make on the report which I would be happy to submit to the clerk to the committee.
That is a good suggestion.
I strongly support the report and commend Deputy Ring on his acute awareness of the issues affecting rural Ireland. The report makes several sensible recommendations in regard to redeploying school buses and the free travel pass, and offers a template for rural public transport.
I welcome this report and acknowledge the efforts invested by Deputy Ring. In light of the upcoming budget, it is timely that we consider a report on rural transport. The programme for Government does not make a commitment to protect existing rural transport initiatives. I attempted to address rural transport issues in the report I produced for the committee and thank Deputy Ring for referencing my work as a resource. I welcome the novel recommendation on taxi vouchers for the many elderly people in rural areas who have to take taxis to the church or shops.
The report cites Irish Rural Link's 2009 study on the transfer of rural transport planning from the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to the Department of Transport. I note Deputy Ring does not propose a transfer but I would oppose any such proposal because the latter Department is clinical in terms of considering routes. As the Deputy's report shows, rural transport will always need State subvention if it is to address social and community needs fully and, as such, is better situated in the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.
Even if we endorse this report today, we should arrange to debate it fully with a view to implementing its recommendations. I say this one year after my report, Awakening the West, was adopted by this committee. There is no point in asking Deputy Ring to invest 18 months in this report if it is to be left on a shelf. The committee needs to take this work seriously.
Senator Doherty is factually inaccurate because the revised programme for Government includes a dedicated section on rural transport initiatives which tie in the HSE and school bus services. It is important that we prioritise rural transport and put the facts on record.
The Senator's remark was very unfair because the programme for Government commits to enhancing funding for rural transport.
I concur with Deputies White and Cregan in regard to the programme for Government. I represent Dublin North, where there is a significant number of rural villages and a rural community. I welcome the report and congratulate Deputy Ring for presenting it. I agree with other members that we discuss it in depth at a future date.
The committee supports the work that Deputy Ring has done in raising many important issues, but it is also clear that a number of members have comments that should be forwarded to the secretariat. I ask them to pass these on to the secretariat in the next day or two. We should agree to approve the report and put it on our 2010 work programme to develop it as a committee report. Deputy Ring quotes from the 2002 national rural transport survey which states that as many 380,000 people in rural areas perceive themselves as having unmet transport needs. These are very real needs. I ask Deputy Ring to make a brief reply. This report is very relevant to the organisations that are about to make presentations to the joint committee.
I thank the members for their kind comments. I know they have reservations, but I respect that as well. I hope they make those reservations known to the clerk before the week is out.
There is a major problem in the rural transport service. Everybody on the committee as well as the representative groups that are present know that. We have an obligation as legislators to ensure that people in rural areas have a level of service to which they are entitled and rural transport is one of the services they need. Rural isolation is a problem and people need to be able to get to the shop, to hospital appointments and so on. In response to Deputy White, may I say that I might not be happy about the carbon tax in the budget next week but I hope some of that money will be ring-fenced for rural transport.
Is it agreed that the report be a committee report?
Will the Chairman confirm that we will discuss this report in detail?
It will be part of our work programme. We will announce our work programme at the start of next year.