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Rural Transport.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 February 2007

Wednesday, 28 February 2007

Questions (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

78 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the extent to which he will provide or fund local transport in rural or urban areas which currently do not have such facilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7722/07]

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Pat Rabbitte

Question:

90 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the funding he will be providing for rural transport in 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7703/07]

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Paul Connaughton

Question:

92 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs his proposals for expanding the availability of public transport, particularly at evening and night time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7729/07]

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Ciarán Cuffe

Question:

111 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if he will report on progress regarding the planned pilot evening rural transport scheme. [7767/07]

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Olivia Mitchell

Question:

124 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the additional measures he will introduce in 2007 to increase the public transport services available to rural residents during evening, night-time and weekend hours; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6576/07]

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Joe Callanan

Question:

128 Mr. Callanan asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the way proposals are progressing on plans to provide rural transport services to counter social isolation in rural areas where market failure has resulted in a lack of evening and night-time transport services. [7604/07]

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Oral answers (7 contributions)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 78, 90, 92, 111, 124 and 128 together.

As the Deputies are aware, generally in rural areas there are no public transport services at night. While in the more developed rural areas there are either hackney or taxi services, these are totally at the discretion of the providers of these services and do not provide a guaranteed service to rural people. There is a need, therefore, in rural areas for an evening transport service to allow rural people to fully participate in the various activities, community, sporting and social, that take place in their areas and to address the market failure that currently exists.

The Department is currently developing proposals to establish a pilot night-time transport scheme and, in this context, I met the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Gallagher, in late January to discuss the parameters of the new scheme. I have in mind a scheme additional to the existing rural transport programme run by the Department of Transport and a small number of areas will be selected to run it over a 12 month pilot period. Where the pilot schemes will be located is still under consideration, as is the question of funding for the scheme in 2007.

All services will focus on maximising the general community good and I am, of course, conscious of the need to ensure that no displacement takes place of commercially viable existing services as a result of the introduction of the new scheme. Discussions are continuing between the two Departments and with Pobal, which administers the RTP on behalf of the Department of Transport, and I hope to make an announcement in the coming weeks regarding the pilot scheme.

When did the Minister have this idea?

I have evidence in an internal memo that we began consideration of it in November. On the day this became a major announcement, I was in Na Forbacha and a colleague issued a statement. TG4 contacted my office and my initial reaction was that I was very busy and did not have time to do an interview but I later changed my mind. I am often asked by TG4 to do interviews on many issues raised by different groups and I try to accommodate them. When I was asked about it, I explained, as I have to the Deputy, that I had been thinking about the issue and that it needs to be addressed. I spoke about the social isolation question. Then the obvious question was asked as to when I would make a decision or introduce proposals. I said that I could not give a time or date, but in an aside I said that obviously it would be before the general election. If I had said it would happen after the general election, some people would have said that I was being too smart by half — I would have been accused of doing it by not doing it. I would have thought that anything being done by a Minister now would need to have been moved forward before an election and that is what caused the great announcement. This matter has been ongoing for some time and I have the evidence to prove it.

I refer to transport for senior citizens in the more remote rural areas. Bus Éireann may commence a service on a trial basis on a particular route and discover that it does not work. There is the rural transport initiative. Some issues are becoming much more urgent in rural areas, particularly regarding the closure of post offices, for example. Wider social aspects are involved. For instance, older people in rural areas who are not very mobile may like to go to town for the day, walk around, have a pint, have a meal etc. While some people may ask why the State should provide financial assistance, I believe it is part of the State's responsibility to look after such people. If on a specific day a minibus went through a particular area and collected people at their doorsteps and returned them home again, many more people would avail of such a service. It would fulfil a very substantial need in rural areas. As the Minister knows, many people live in fear and become quite isolated. Could the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs become involved in such an initiative?

Thankfully, there is no need for that because the Government is already doing it. The Department of Transport does that and the allocation to the rural transport programme has been doubled. That programme does exactly as the Deputy has described — it brings people to their local town or village and it is locally driven. As the majority of its clientele is non-paying, it is much more expensive to run than my idea, which would service a wider spectrum of the community, but still include the targeted group the Deputy mentioned.

Whenever a proposal is made regarding rural areas, there always seems to be a better alternative. People may propose — something that we accepted as fundamental when I grew up here in Dublin — that there would be a bus in the evening in a rural area. People may ask why not save the post offices or do something else. Nobody ever asks whether we can have buses in Dublin in the evening or should we do something else with the money like investing in hospitals. Nobody makes such suggestions in the urban context. There remains a massive mental divide between what people regard as acceptable in country areas and what is absolutely basic in an urban area.

We must, of course, deal with the issue the Deputy mentioned, and we are dealing with it. In a city people need to travel much smaller distances as shops and pubs are nearby. However, if evening transport was discontinued in this city, there would be a hullabaloo. Rural areas face a much bigger problem, particularly with regard to the changes in society, because people are more scattered. When the Government starts to consider the parity issue, we are told there is no need as it is not a top priority. As someone who lives in the real countryside, I find it hard to get my head around it. I will give an example of how simple this can be.

The Minister's time has concluded.

The Ceann Comhairle will be interested in this example. Let us consider a hackney in Deputy English's area. For a small retainer, he is required to bring anybody from within a ten-mile radius to anywhere else in that area between the hours of 7 p.m. and 1 a.m. from Thursdays to Sundays. He would charge everybody apart from pensioners. However, we would pay him a retainer to prevent him from going to Dublin on the basis that more money could be made there in a particular week. That system does not need to be very expensive. It would be very efficient and would change the whole quality of life in Deputy English's area, as I am sure he would agree.

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