Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending this morning and affording us this opportunity to raise some issues - some of which are positive and others which are not. I will start with the night time rural transport service the Minister announced recently. Initially, the sum of €200,000 was mentioned but that was never going to cover all rural areas. However, it was a start in the right direction.

Ms Graham stated:

As five Local Link groups did not make an initial application, the authority advised in mid-May that it would consider any further proposed services from these groups should a need or demand exist in the transport co-ordination unit, TCU, area. A revised closing date of Friday, 1 June was set [by the Minister].

Were any other groups entitled to apply for the extra money or was it just the five specific groups? I would appreciate it if Ms Graham could clarify that for me.

I will start with Local Link but I prefer to call it rural transport. I acknowledge the great work the rural transport service is giving to the people I represent in Cork South-West. It is a phenomenal service and it is managed very efficiently throughout the entire county of Cork, which is a massive undertaking. The service has worked very well. If it is not broken, why fix it? The service is funded at the moment through the NTA but local boards run the transport service. Is it intended that it will continue that way or are changes contemplated?

Is it possible for Bus Éireann and Local Link to interact more closely? It is not always clear that it happens. It is most important that a relationship would be built between the two services and that it could be further enhanced. In future could Local Link consider the provision of public transport services for people with disabilities aged over 18? If one has a severe disability and one is 17 years and 364 days old, one will get a transport service from the door to whatever institution one needs to access on a daily basis, but once one reaches the age of 18, one is given a free bus pass. It is possible that 50% of people with disabilities can use the bus pass but the other 50% are not and there is no service for them in west Cork. Such people are left stranded in their homes. Elderly parents are driving them for up to five hours a day when there are up to three buses in the area providing a service to young people up to the age of 18 yet those who are 18 will not be picked up by the bus. There is a breakdown in that regard which must be addressed because it is a very serious issue in the constituency I represent. I cannot speak for other constituencies.

School transport is a big issue in rural communities, in particular the catchment area. One shoe does not fit all. It can happen that a brother or a sister has gone to a school of the family's choice at an earlier stage but when the youngest sibling is starting school, CIÉ may state it will not take the child to the school in question but will take him or her to the nearest school. I could argue about this until the cows come home and I might not get anywhere with it but in some cases there is very little difference between both sides of the argument. When CIÉ measures distances, it operates on the basis of the nearest way one can get to the nearest school but that is not the route the bus takes. When measuring the longest route the distance is based on the bus route. CIÉ is taking every short cut it can to prove the point that the mileage is shorter. The basis for its calculations is totally incorrect and I know it is happening.

It should quite simply be the bus route from the house to the nearest school or the bus route from the house to the school that is furthest away. That is the fairest way. They cannot be taking big buses up boreens. That is not the way it works. Measurements can be very tight in some situations. Parents want their children to go to the nearest school rather than to the one that is furthest away. That issue needs to be looked at.

The cost of transport for young people, under-18s and students, is an issue that comes up on a regular basis. The cost of transport from my parish of Goleen to Cork is frightening. It turns young people off. They are looking for some alternative to the excellent service in Goleen, which I commend. It is at 7.30 a.m. every morning. It is great to have a service that goes to Cork but quite a lot of young people who would like to use the service cannot afford to do so. They are students. I am not sure of the exact charge but I think it is over €30. It is a lot of money for a young person who might want to commute a couple of times a week. It is not feasible for them.

The other issue is rail. I have been fighting for rail to west Cork. They are all laughing at me. They were able to bring it to west Cork in the 1850s but we cannot bring it in 2018. Obviously things are not getting any better but have moved back a good bit. The one thing we could be looking at is providing a bus service to link with the rail service in Cork. Bus Éireann needs to look at that more closely. As we are not going to get rail to west Cork, we need to have a bus service that leaves west Cork every morning and links to the train service. While we may not have rail in west Cork, at least we would have a linking transport service to rail. It is very important. We need to look at it in more detail, if possible.