Ms Anne Graham:

I will first respond to Deputy Healy-Rae who asked a question about services in Kerry. We have carried out a review of services in Kerry. We are working closely with Bus Éireann to deliver what we would hope would be an improved service in Kerry. Prior to us implementing the initiative, Members will have the details beforehand.

In regard to the decisions that we make and the knock-on consequences of licensing decisions that Deputy Heydon mentioned, and in terms of looking at licences and licence applications, we want to provide an increased and better service for public transport customers. We also want to grow public transport numbers. By looking at the services in that way, we have had to refuse licences in some cases where we felt it could undermine the provision of services between those licensed services. We feel it is not a consequence of the number of licences, more a consequence of the roads structure and infrastructure and also the demand by customers for quicker end-to-end journeys. That is what has influenced the types of licence applications we have received and the types of decisions we have had to make. As a result, Bus Éireann has had to review the provision of its licensed services to respond to those changes. It is our responsibility to see what is needed if there are places left without a public transport service. While we have a responsibility in regulating licences, we also have a responsibility to see if there is a public service obligation in an area that requires to be met by a public transport service.

As we have indicated before, we have been limited by our level of funding in delivering more services.

We are grateful that the level of funding has stabilised in terms of the subsidy going into services. We would like to see this increasing in order that we might start to fill the gaps and grow public transport services throughout the country. It is this for which we need to plan.

In the context of what Deputy Stanley stated, our role involves bringing forward a plan for the putting in place of strategic routes throughout the country. We have commenced work in this regard and we would like to put forward a general plan in respect of how Ireland is served by its main public transport services.

Deputy Heydon referred to HSE services. As he is aware, it has been difficult, even locally, to integrate HSE and rural transport services. However, we will continue to try to do this locally. In addition, we will do whatever we can nationally in order to try to ensure that public transport services meet the needs of those of our customers with health issues.

When we draw up plans in respect of a replacement service for route 7, we will implement them as soon as possible. A meeting of the working group is due to take place in the next week and we will be attending that. A date for that meeting has not yet been decided upon but I am sure this will be done in the next couple of days. We will bring forward our proposals at the meeting in question. We must also be aware that there may be changes to the commercial services - even beyond those already planned - which we will also be obliged to consider in the context of what we will put in place. However, we are actively drawing up plans and we will be ready to meet the working group in the coming days. We hope that we will be in a position to put in place whatever solutions are agreed. Again, this will be subject to the necessary funding being made available. We will try to put the solutions to which I refer in place as quickly as possible.

On the question of what happens if free travel pass holders avail of what might be replacement services, the answer is that it would depend on the nature of those services. As I indicated earlier, a cap has been put in place in respect of the free travel scheme and any new services cannot avail of a subsidy from the scheme in order to allow holders of the pass to travel for free. Unfortunately, in certain instances where we have put in place some replacement PSO services, we have been obliged to charge concessionary fares. Whether we will be obliged to do that in this case, we are not yet sure but it might be part of the consideration in terms of replacement PSO services along route 7.

Deputy Stanley referred to having an integrated approach. We want to bring such an approach to bear in the context of planning for services. We are of the view that we are the only authority which can do so. We want to continue to work on trying to integrate existing services and on using our resources more effectively. In addition, we also want to plan for areas where we may need to deliver additional services.

In the context of infrastructure, we are aware that we need to put in place further bus stops and shelters. However, we are limited in this regard in terms of the level of funding available and we must prioritise in the context of where we can deliver these infrastructure items. We will be undertaking a process of putting in place new bus stops - at which integrated information will be available - throughout the country. We are also working towards trying to integrate the stops as well in order that all providers will use the same stops. This will, however, take a number of years to roll out. In the context of bus shelters, we are similarly constrained by the level of resources available. Again, we have been obliged to prioritise where we use those resources in order to put new shelter infrastructure in place.