Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I, too, was glad to hear the Minister say that it was not a commercial product. I was glad to hear him speak of improving the quality of life and talking about connectivity between rural and urban areas.

I smiled when I heard that because that was the argument many of us made against the proposals to put some Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus routes out to tender. That is exactly what it is about. Perhaps the Minister will heed what he himself has said when it comes around to the next batch of routes he intends to outsource.

My questions are on the breakdown of the funding and how it is going to operate. I am also curious about how the pilot scheme will be monitored. I do not believe the Minister said anything specific about how it would be measured. Perhaps he could clarify that. I asked whether this would be a door-to-door service as opposed to a collection point-type service on main routes, and I was glad to hear that it is going to be a door-to-door service. If a person is living in a village, he or she can access the local community hall for social activities or the local pub, but the people who live up the lanes and the boreens are completely isolated. For this reason a door-to-door service would be good. I presume a phone line will be set up which those wishing to avail of the service can ring to schedule collection.

I could not believe it when I saw that the service would be operating until 11 p.m. at the latest. I do not frequent pubs, but closing time is midnight or 12.30.am, I believe.