Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will move now to the overarching context of the sustainable mobility policy.

My father often has a great debate with me about the person living in Tarelton or Kilmichael in Cork, who has no chance of getting a bus. What do we say to those people in rural Ireland in terms of developing a sustainable mobility policy for them?

We should look at the prohibitive cost of trains because there can and will be more people who would migrate to them if the cost was not as prohibitive. I say this in the context of BusConnects in Cork where we have an outstanding bus service that has become popular because of the frequency, the price and the 24-hour service. We need to address the issue of rural Ireland and the person living in Tarelton or Kilmichael. Linked to that is the issue of the cost of trains.