Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)

I welcome the witnesses. My questions are mainly about Local Link and Bus Éireann. It is hard to say anything about the CTTC because we are very lucky to have a great operator down there in west Cork. Damien Long has transformed transport throughout west Cork, from the city down to the deep ends of west Cork.

Only for him, we would be in trouble. I am not being disrespectful to Bus Éireann or Local Link, but the rest are trotting around after them, and that is fine. We do not mind that as long as we have a delivery of service. I do not, in any way, want to be critical towards Local Link and Bus Éireann because what they and their bus drivers and staff are delivering is top class also, but there could be little changes. To be very honest, in the last number of years we have gone from a situation of 0% transport to 75% transport in many areas and actually it could be 100% in some of those areas. I am talking more about Local Link on this than Bus Éireann initially. I see areas like Baltimore which started with one bus route. It is a fantastic success. We ended up needing two buses going down to Baltimore, which is incredible. The Mizen run is an incredible situation. We had no transport service other than a Bus Éireann bus leaving at 7.30 a.m. and that was it. Now there is a bus several times a day. I am going to talk about Skibbereen and Castletownshend here too. That Baltimore bus goes in one way and out one way when there is another road coming back out of these areas. I mentioned that here the last day. Who can we sit down with and talk to in order to put a little common sense on this? We have gone from a situation where we had no transport, so we do not want to sound ungrateful. We have an incredible service now. Anyone who uses it cannot stop talking about it. It has transformed peoples' lives, but there are at least 20 or 30 people on a similar route on the way up. The bus should go in one route and come out the other route. It would not add mileage to it, but it would look after people. It makes common sense. It is not a major change. It is the same for Skibbereen and Castletownshend. A huge number of people from Toe Head, Tragumna and that area have contacted me. Again, the bus goes in one way and it comes back out the same way. They are asking for there to be a slight change and the bus to go in one way and come out a different way and take in these areas. I am not talking about taking a bus away up lanes picking up people. I am not talking about that. It would stay on the road but there would be a few small changes. There is a tender gone out for Timoleague, Grange, Clonakilty to Dunmanway. Again, that is great, but I am looking at areas that could have been included, either coming in or coming out. Councillor Daniel Sexton, a councillor in my area, is under pressure because people are asking why Kilcolman, Murragh, Aghyohil and Ballinascarty were not included in that. Couragh and Drinagh have no bus service whatsoever. These are little villages and little towns. I cannot understand why they were not included - it might have added half an hour to the whole journey - rather than creating a new route again that may not have been needed. I have not got all the solutions. I accept that, but our input and the ideas the local people see as a common sense way in and a common sense way out are not being acted on. I would appreciate being told how we can act on that. Maybe it means pulling that tender for a short period and adding another couple of areas that will not take the route crazily off the new route being proposed there. I am not taking the bus miles off its route.

Councillor Linda de Courcy has been on to me about a direct service between Clondalkin and DCU being reinstated. Bus Éireann might answer that. I think it was the No. 13 bus that used to go there but now it stops in the city and people have to change bus. It was always 35 to 50 minutes on the bus. Now it is taking 90 to 110 minutes by car. People are asking whether the service that was there before can be reinstated.

Regarding the over-70s, I wish I had hours to talk about this. Mr. Kent mentioned Professor Desmond O'Neill's report on the over-70s and the risk of crashes, illness and distraction but, surely be to God, a man or woman's attending doctor's report supersedes any other person's report. If it does not, they are wasting their time going to a doctor. If the doctor deems that person medically fit to drive a vehicle up to a certain age, surely that supersedes any other professor's report that the NTA is taking 100% recognition of. Obviously, safety and all that has to come into play.