Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I fear the situation will be replicated. I ask the Minister to raise this at Cabinet. Due to what we have gained in respect of those services, we should decouple them from the initial criteria and just say it is merited to have a bus in that community - it could be anywhere in Ireland - and retain that service.

I have two final questions. I will go through them quickly. Point 29 of the policy references the insurance industry and the role it will have to play. I tabled a parliamentary question last week that I hope the Minister can tease out a little. We have a very good database of the number of taxed vehicles in the country. Gardaí can drive past, if they are in one of the newer cars in the fleet, and identify cars on the roads that are not taxed through the Garda computer system. It is now time, in light of all the road safety issues, and we have had four road fatalities in the past 24 hours, that the Department cross-references the insurance database, which is held by the industry, with the taxation database. Far too many uninsured cars are on the road every single day. Tax is one thing but to not be insured is absolutely criminal. It is putting a huge number of people at risk. I put down a parliamentary question on this. The reply was reasonably warm. The Minister is keen on cross-referencing both databases, which should instantly show up who is driving on our roads. If a car is still licensed and has not been scrapped, it is either parked up somewhere growing moss on its windscreen, or is on the road. If it is on the road, it had better be taxed or insured because God help the person who may be involved in a road traffic accident with it.

My final question relates to the long-proposed Shannon rail spur. The Minister has given some positive indication over the years that the heavy rail system he is suggesting that will go from Limerick city out towards County Clare may see the light of day in the next three years, with potential stops near Corbally, Thomond Park and Moyross. What will happen beyond that, however, is still a bit up in the air. People are continuously asking about this fabulous idea of a rail spur into Shannon with stops at the town, the industrial hub and further on to the airport terminus. Is there any indication at all as to whether that will ever happen or a timeline for when it might happen? Is it still a pipe dream for the county and region? Until we provide Shannon Airport with proper road and rail transport, we will never be quite able to compete with the other airports in Ireland, including Dublin. The passenger cap at Dublin Airport is a major issue, but the number of passengers can be doubled by using Shannon Airport, and probably Cork Airport as well, without changing a single thing, without hiring any additional staff and without building any new infrastructure on the ground. The capacity is there already. Surely, there are already some answers to Ireland Inc's current air problems. The answers to those problems lie elsewhere in the country, on the west coast and specifically Shannon.