Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests. I support my colleagues in saying that, from the perspective of school transport and buses, we also have a significant issue in this regard in rural Ireland. Children cannot be delivered to or collected from the bus by their parents. Every year, there seems to be a growing need for a parent who is working to be able to take a child to the school bus. We are having the same difficulties in that regard. It is paramount, given what we have seen of late, that we keep our children as safe as possible and that we do what we can to ensure that they can be delivered to their doors. There are many instances where the bus passed less than 200 m or 500 m from a door, but it will not go down that route. The bus operators never have a difficulty. When I speak to them, they never have an issue with doing that. Bus Éireann is preventing it from happening. We must have a forum where an explanation is given to public representatives concerning why this is the case, because it comes up year after year and costs a fortune over time. It is preventing people from going back to work. I ask that we look at that in future, because it is not a part of what we are discussing today.

I am baffled by the climate policy that has been developed and how it has no regard, it would appear, for rural Ireland and its requirements. Undoubtedly, those travelling in rural Ireland are disproportionately affected by the rising cost of fuel. I refer to the costs of having to travel to work in rural Ireland, with no alternatives being put in place. The intention in the climate action plan was that the alternative means of travel would be in place before costs would rise. The costs are rising exponentially, however, and no alternatives are in place. The Connecting Ireland rural mobility plan only has a €50 million budget allocated over five years, with €5.5 million of that for this year. It is going nowhere and will do nothing for the services. We are experiencing exponential increases in fuel costs, while Local Link contractors have entered into a tendering process where the price of fuel is not considered. They do not get anything, but they have suffered the consequences of these fuel increases. I ask Ms Graham, Mr. Creegan or Mr. Gaston to comment on whether any proposal has been made to examine this issue or to compensate those affected, because many of our Local Link operators are no longer viable. Before the witnesses answer, the Connecting Ireland policy went out for public consultation in November. The closing date for contributions was December. How close are we to seeing the results?