Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome everybody and thank them for the great work they do. Things have changed in the last five or six years regarding public and rural transport. The rural transport initiative has transformed the way we look at our towns and villages. I thank everyone for the great work being done. I acknowledge my colleagues in the Green Party as well for the work they are doing. I did not think this was possible. We always looked at the situation in the North where there was a rural transport system, but now we have transfers between Boyle and Carrick-on-Shannon and Boyle and Roscommon town. There is also rural transport between Sligo town and Ballymote and Castlerea. We now also have an extremely exciting Atlantic Technological University, ATU. We have a problem with accommodation but many students are now using this transport system to get to the college. There are still a few issues in this regard, but a huge dent has been made in providing transport. I think we can work together in providing more such transport options.

One issue, however, and this has been mentioned, is that not enough people are applying for hackney licences. We need to bite the bullet regarding Uber-type transport. In rural Ireland, certainly, I think this option could fill the void in public transport provision. When we are talking about disability transport and we have this void in rural areas, no matter what we do, when we have a lack of footpaths, etc., this option is an area we need to start thinking about. I know that many taxis and hackneys, certainly in cities, were probably against Uber. When we do not have people coming in to take up the hackney licences, this is a problem. I am just making an observation, but it is again great to see the progress that has been made. I am delighted that there are, effectively, wheelchair bookings possible from Ballyshannon to Dublin and six other locations. This happened four or five months ago. Again, this was an issue I was working on and one I was very aware of.

Regarding equipping all bus stations with a wheelchair-accessible bus bay, providing customer services on all Intercity trains and expanding the number of wheelchair-accessible vehicles in the SPSV fleet to 25%, all these improvements are due for completion at the end of 2025. Are we well under way in achieving these aims? It is also good to see that the Department has a dedicated programme which has increased its funding from €3 million in 2017 to €18 million in 2023. This is again very good news. Moving to the new low-floor coach vehicles, is there much more that can be done here regarding the Local Link buses? I notice now that these routes now have many more wheelchair-accessible services. One other thing which is noticeable is the electronic signs. Once we just had a static sign, but now we have the electronic ones and these look very efficient and professional. It is again a national overall criterion, but it is something that even I notice. It was mentioned that there is a difficulty concerning the interaction between buses, cyclists, pedestrians and disabled users. This is a major issue. The island bus stops were mentioned, which is not a concept we are familiar with. I suppose we will have to work even harder to familiarise people with these.

I congratulate the witnesses and their organisations again on the great work done so far in very difficult times. Much of the momentum of what was happening was upset by the onset of Covid-19. When I was a Minister of State in a Department, I noticed that many of my staff were put forward in this regard and we were unable to deal with tobacco legislation. I am sure there was a similar effect in the Department of Transport as well. We have no excuse now, though, and it is onwards and upwards. I thank everybody again for all the work they are doing. I ask them to let us know if there is anything we can do as politicians to assist in their endeavours. I refer to the local authorities as well. I am sure some are very good and some maybe not as good. I am not saying they are bad. I again thank the witnesses.