Mr. Alan Kerry:

On the Deputy's question around the Threshold and regular rural services and demand responsive services, we are in a fortunate position that people in rural Ireland now have the benefit of having services delivered by a national agency which is co-ordinated at a local point. Since the Deputy asked the question, I have thought about it. From our experience in Kildare and south Dublin, we have never had a service refused. That signifies the basis of need that can be identified at the local point of service.

We probably need to remember where we have come from. I started in the job in 2007. Ms McKenna has a few years more experience. We were part of the transition to the National Transport Authority's management of rural transport services in 2014. It is appropriate in a forum such as this, to acknowledge the systemic change that has happened in the availability of public transport in rural areas. That is an honest and valid description of the current situation. We can also remember - I think Deputy Ó Cuív was part of the process at the initial stages - that the objective of the rural transport initiative when it commenced in the late 1990s and early 2000s was to remove dependence on friends and family members to give people access to independence to do their business, whether it was shopping or collecting their pension. We must recognise and be mindful of the demographic change that has happened. The main benefactors of the services at that time were widows, holders of free travel passes and people of my mother's generation who perhaps never drove a car and when the man of the house was no longer there, they became dependent on family and friends. Everyone involved can look back and say that we achieved the target. Dependence was definitely reduced in that time.

Now we must raise our ambition and take the benefit of having an association with an organisation such as the National Transport Authority. Our objective is no longer to remove dependence on individuals or family members. It is now to remove dependence on second, third, fourth and in some cases even fifth cars in rural households. We need the collaborative approach from all the elements that have been discussed here this morning, including the bus stop infrastructure Senator Garvey mentioned and the fare structures. No single piece of the jigsaw will solve the issue. It is only when we gather all the pieces together that we will move forward in a comprehensive manner to overcome the challenges that have been identified.