Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 April 2007
46 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if the areas to be serviced by the proposed Nitelink buses have been chosen; the criteria used to select the areas; the amenities that will be serviced; and when the service will commence. [14989/07]
View answer48 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs his proposals for rural transport; the expected sources of funding required; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14983/07]
View answer49 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if the rural transport initiative will be expanded to allow for night time rural buses; if so, when this will be introduced; the money to be allocated for this purpose; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12679/07]
View answer673 Mr. McHugh asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the progress being made in relation to the introduction of the proposed night time rural public transport system; when the system will be in place; if north east Galway will be included in the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15083/07]
View answer697 Mr. McGinley asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs when the expansion of late night public transport in rural areas, as earlier outlined by the him, will be implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15152/07]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 46, 48, 49, 673 and 697 together.
As the Deputies will be aware, in many rural areas, there are no public transport services at night. While there are, in the more developed rural areas, 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. I believe, therefore, that there is a need in rural Ireland 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.
What I have in mind is that the new scheme will be additional to the existing Rural Transport Programme (RTP), run by the Department of Transport, and that a small number of areas will be selected to run it, over a 12 month pilot period.
In this context, the 34 groups currently delivering the RTP were invited by Pobal, who administer the RTP on behalf of the Department of Transport, to submit applications to be considered under the new scheme. Of those, 22 of the groups subsequently applied and the applications have been appraised having regard to such criteria as:
evidence of need;
strength of proposal;
capacity of the group;
value for money; and
geographical spread.
I hope to make an announcement on the half dozen or so pilot areas to be selected in the next week or two. The budget for the 2007 pilot will be of the order of €500,000 and I would expect the service to commence with a few weeks of the pilot areas being chosen.
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.
