Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

What are the actual figures for the amount of the PSO levy spent on the greater Dublin area and outside it?

The problem is there is a lack of joined-up thinking right across the board. No effort is being made to make bus routes viable. I accept the point made by Ms Graham that the PSO budget has been cut and more funding needs to put into this. For example, Bus Éireann announced it was a case of "use it or lose it" for route 21, the Westport-Athlone service. That same week, the Department of Social Protection, which has its own budget, announced it was closing its community welfare clinic in Ballinlough, County Roscommon, and people have to access that service in Castlerea, County Roscommon. Now people who badly need to get to the community welfare clinic in Castlerea will have to pay for a taxi to get there which will have to be funded by the Exchequer although there was a public transport service in place before. It is the same problem for Rooskie where the Rooskie-Dromod bus service was removed last year and at the end of this month the community welfare clinic will be closed in Rooskie. There is a lack of joined-up thinking between all of the State agencies involved.

Ms Graham needs to start banging heads together to trash out some of these issues. I accept Bus Éireann needs to look at the commercial test of its routes. I know there have been huge changes because of the development of the motorways which has had an impact on services. Ireland West Airport Knock has dramatically increased its passenger numbers with 1.1 million people going through it last year. Bus Éireann, however, is looking at reducing services to the airport, not expanding them. While Bus Éireann expands services into Dublin Airport, it is withdrawing services from Knock rather than enhancing them.

The county hospital in Roscommon closed in 2011. What discussions have taken place to date with the Health Service Executive, HSE, on this? People in Roscommon now have to go for hospital appointments to Castlebar, Portiuncula and Galway. A patient from Roscommon can get to Galway for an afternoon appointment but will not be able to get a bus home. It is the same for Castlebar while one would have to wait until 4.30 p.m. for the return service from Portiuncula.

What discussions has the National Transport Authority, NTA, had with the HSE on facilitating transport to and from clinics and the timing of appointments? For example, have the staff making appointments in each of those hospitals been given a copy of that timetable booklet produced by the NTA? This would allow appointments to be scheduled to ensure patients, particularly older people, can get to them by accessing public transport rather than having to pay €150 to €200 for a taxi. Does it not make more sense for such an integrated public transport approach rather than paying €200 per taxi, some of it paid for by the State? Providing such a transport service would also ensure people get to appointments in the first place, reduce do-not-shows, speed up access to treatment, reduce pressure on accident and emergency departments and the ambulance service and the chaos that causes, as well as reducing the financial impact these have across the operation of the health service.

It is frustrating for me that for the past 20 years we have all been talking about the need for joined-up thinking between all State and community agencies to link and maximise the use of services. For the past 15 years, I have heard there will be co-ordination between the transport agencies and the HSE regarding hospital appointments but nothing seems to be happening. All I see are more services reduced and, unless one is going to Dublin, one can forget about it. There is the odd service to the likes of Galway and Sligo but forget about anywhere else. It will not happen because it is not commercially viable even though the majority of services in the greater Dublin area are not commercially viable either. They will continue but rural Ireland can forget about its services.