Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

If private operators are making money and we take it from them, we will end up with no private operators. What I am saying is that currently we are subsidising the DART, the Luas and everything that people take for a journey. It is all being subsidised. Let us not kid ourselves. If we are to give rural transport the same chance as urban transport, we will have to subsidise it even more.