Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Nolan for his presentation. He made the point that Bus Éireann was engaged in trying to provide local services where it had decided to stop picking up passengers on a number of routes on the Expressway service. We raised this issue with the private operators earlier. A number of Bus Éireann regional managers are present here, but this issue would be quite specific to what has been happening on the N4. In a response I received on this via the Minister's office, I was informed that there is a move towards local consultation with regard to providing a rural service. How involved will Bus Éireann be in this? The rural transport link is provided with an annual amount of money, approximately €11 million, and it is operated through the partnerships that provide rural transport. How does Bus Éireann envisage addressing transport in those areas it will now leave, where there are passengers who will be left without a service? This question relates to Expressway.

Mr. Leahy, the regional manager for the north west, suggested a compromise of having one service going up and one service returning, but the local reaction to that was that it would go too early in the morning, at 7.30 a.m. They suggest it should be later in the day. Has there been any advance in regard to that? In another part of Leitrim where a service has been withdrawn, this is directly affecting Ballinamore and Mohill. Is this as a result of the withdrawal of the Swanlinbar-Bawnboy service? The withdrawal of service is leaving an entire geographical area of south Leitrim without any transport service whatsoever. I do not want to take up the time of the meeting by going into the detail of the inconvenience this is causing, but wish to refer to a letter given to Mr. Padraig Griffin, secretary of the Ballinamore area community council, from an old age pensioner of 80 years of age who had to get a lift. She said she left home at 9 a.m. and did not get home until 4 p.m. and had to rely on people to pick her up and on taxis. To a large extent, it is the vulnerable and the elderly who will suffer as a result of the changes being made. How can Bus Éireann, while remaining efficient, deliver the service people feel they should get but are not getting now?