Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair. It is kind of him to give me a few minutes. I say hi to the witnesses. It is my first time to be at a meeting with them. I am not a member of the committee but as an Oireachtas Member, I can be here. It is important to say that we are making real progress on transport throughout the country. I welcome the commitment, work, and ongoing discussions and negotiations the NTA has with Oireachtas Members and communities in general, but as the witnesses all know, we have a long way to go. Being a little parochial, the NTA introduced a good link between Roscommon and Longford, which I am glad to report is being widely used.

Of course it stops in the village of Ballyleague-Lanesborough where the Shannon divides Longford and Roscommon. The service is outstanding. Just off that road there is a village which was developed by Bord na Móna called Cloontuskert. There were 76 houses and there are now about 100. It is less than a kilometre from the village of Ballyleague. It would be lovely, and again we cannot take in every corner of an area and I understand this, to be able to establish a link with a village such as this. Perhaps asking that buses go off the main route to go down there is not on but perhaps we could have a support link to the village. We are dealing with some elderly people and younger families who do not have transport. It would be something to look at if we could have a model for it. Perhaps I will write to the NTA with some ideas I have.

The creation and expansion of Local Link is very important to rural areas. I live in the Strokestown area of Roscommon. It is a well-known town and Scramogue is in its rural area. The Local Link bus there is very important to bring people from A, B, C and D. The problem, and I appreciate it is not easy to solve, is that it is not able to reach some people. Some of these are people with disabilities, elderly people and people with no car transport. The problem is difficult to solve and I wonder whether it is something the NTA looks at and discusses. I know the NTA is well aware of it but I cannot stress enough the importance of Irish Rural Link to people in rural areas. If we want to reduce the amount of time people spend in cars, and we are all doing this from an environmental perspective as the witnesses are aware, we have to have the back-up services such as buses.

Some of the buses providing the service need to be upgraded in terms of carrying people with disabilities. I am involved in social services in my area. Sometimes when elderly people are going out for a day we have to try to accommodate three wheelchairs. There is no proper facility on some of the buses to put the wheelchairs to one side. This means that not everyone can go and this is a pity when everyone is enthusiastic about going on a day out. I understand the cost of the modern buses but we have to introduce them and make sure they are people friendly. I accept there is an enormous cost involved but I would like to see it being improved. There is a company in Dublin that specialises in this. The buses are available but they are quite expensive.

I commend the work of the NTA. We all come to it with a list. I would also like to speak about train services but I will not do so today.