Ms Marie Donnelly:

The council is very supportive of the rail strategy and the expansion of public transport, be it road or rail, particularly into rural areas. Senator Noonan asked whether anyone listens to our recommendations. I am not sure whether it was because they listened to our recommendation but when we look at rural transport through Local Link and the numbers of passengers that are now using Local Link to their benefit, we can see that it has been quite dramatic in the past two or three years. We have heard people say that they used to have a bus once a week and now they have it seven days a week and that this makes not having a car feasible for them. We have seen improvements in supports for public transport in areas outside urban spaces. It can improve. The idea of being able to dial into Local Link to be collected is an important innovation.

It will probably rely on AI, ultimately, to be successful. These are the recommendations we are making. Even the recommendation on the grant for an EV was made to take account of the fact that people do not always have easy choices. We have to facilitate them to make the choice to become more sustainable. This is why we wanted to be able to reach out to people who, up to now, have not been able to afford to get an EV. It is so they could get an EV and get the benefit of it. Getting everybody out of their cars in the short term might be a challenge. Getting everybody into an EV is also a challenge but, perhaps, is just that little bit easier.