Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

"Rural Ireland is a top priority". That was last night. "The NTA will ensure that there is no negative impact on the connectivity of rural communities" was today. That is a rather vague formulation, so let us pin it down.

There is a village. Let us call it Ballykissangel. Six Bus Éireann buses pass through it every day. As a result of current events, that service is axed. The NTA brings in a private bus operator, which runs a bus through the village twice per day. Technically, there is no negative impact on connectivity because there was connectivity yesterday, there is connectivity today and there will be connectivity tomorrow, but the people's service has been slashed by two thirds.

Let us tighten up the formulation. Will the Minister give a commitment that the level of service to rural towns and villages will not be negatively impacted on irrespective of what happens in Bus Éireann and that people will retain 100% of their current service levels?