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Rural Transport Services

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 September 2020

Thursday, 17 September 2020

Ceisteanna (2)

Seán Sherlock

Ceist:

2. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Community and Rural Development and the Islands if she has met with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport on rural public transport challenges under Covid-19 regulations. [24447/20]

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Freagraí ó Béal (6 píosaí cainte)

I merely wish to ask the Minister if there is an attempt at policy coherence in respect of rural transport provision. Covid-19 has highlighted the weaknesses in school transport policy in particular. We know that currently there is a review of the school transport scheme but to our mind there is no point in having a review of the school transport scheme unless the Minister's Department is mapped across the review.

I thank Deputy Sherlock for raising this issue. As he will be aware, the provision of transport services, including for rural areas, is the responsibility of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and the National Transport Authority, NTA. Continued operation of the public transport system is among the designated essential services that have carried on throughout the Covid-19 crisis and transport operators and their staff must be thanked for their dedication to providing what is a vital service for rural areas in such challenging times. While I have not met with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport regarding these challenges, I am aware that his Department has been working closely with the NTA in line with the Government's Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business and the recently published Government plan for living with Covid-19.

My Department is currently developing the next phase of rural policy for Ireland to succeed the Action Plan for Rural Development which concluded at the end of 2019. The need for further integration of rural, regional and national public transport services to provide a comprehensive and reliable service to people who live, work and study in rural towns, villages and outlying areas was highlighted as part of the consultation process to inform the development of the new policy.

The programme for Government includes commitments to the development of integrated public transport and connectivity in rural areas and works continue to be funded through Project Ireland 2040 and the national development plan to ensure that people living in rural Ireland remain connected with their local communities and beyond through investment in public transport and the road network. My Department will continue to engage across the Government, including with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, to identify tangible policy measures to further enhance access to transport services in rural areas.

I thank the Minister for her response. If her Department is developing a rural policy for Ireland I do not think it is possible to do so without talking about the totality of public transport. Increasingly, rural Ireland is a cosmopolitan place. The people who live there now traverse the entire demographic of Irish society. Without being too verbose about it, this September there was a crisis regarding the supply of school transport. Hopefully, that will be worked through. There is an opportunity here for policy coherence to radicalise how rural transport is developed. We have Local Link which, arguably, is a very successful service. That is certainly the case in my neck of the woods. In developing a rural policy there is no reason we could not look at the totality of transport. I prevail upon the Minister to take into account the fact that 120,000 children use school transport. I realise it is not across the Minister's Department, but there is the potential to use the 5,000 buses involved in school transport to transport other people as well who live in rural Ireland.

I agree with Deputy Sherlock. There needs to be cross-Government thinking, and there has been. As part of the rural development policy I have engaged right across all of the Departments because everybody has an input into this policy. Local Link, which the Deputy mentioned, is one of the best rural transport initiatives that we have. Some of the local companies are really good at the joined-up thinking that we need. For example, in Cavan and Monaghan, with which I am familiar, there is an integration of the services, which includes providing transport for health services for people who need to go to hospital appointments and those going to college. There is a really good service in Cavan and Monaghan that links the two institutes which runs over and back five times a day. Students going to the local colleges can get transport, which did not happen before. The service has enhanced the local institutes of education. Deputy Sherlock is absolutely right about joined-up thinking. We need to do that. I assure him that I will be engaging with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, on that issue.

The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that more and more people are connected. Many people who ordinarily would not have been connected to Internet technologies are now in possession of smartphones and can use that technology in a seamless way across the age range. It is about developing a coherent supply of transport services to allow people to use the technology to map on, so that no matter where they are living they can get access to services and they do not have to go to a place to buy a ticket, for example, as they can use their phones now. There is an opportunity to radicalise in a positive sense how we deliver rural transport in a more cosmopolitan society, as it were.

I absolutely agree with Deputy Sherlock. That is something I will certainly work closely on with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. There is €2 million in the July stimulus package for new and expanded local bus services. There is also €250,000 to support the transition of Local Link services to zero-emission vehicles in areas of rural Ireland. A total of €21 million is being provided to improve rail journeys and that will primarily support works along the Dublin to Cork line. There is a commitment to rural transport in the programme for Government and I will certainly support it.

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