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

I will start where I ended earlier on with Bus Éireann. I have a couple of questions in relation to a direct bus service between Clondalkin and DCU, which our local councillor, Linda de Courcy, has been very strong on. Will that direct route be reinstated rather than having to change over in the city?

The issue of 70-year-olds is a bugbear of mine. A lot of bus services are being discontinued because the driver has reached the age of 70 and the operator cannot get a replacement. It was stated that Bus Éireann is taking a report from a professor who says there is a risk of crashes, which obviously has to be respected, as well as multi-illnesses and distraction. Surely, however, the medical record of a driver, male or female, for all of their life, supersedes that professor's report? Both have to be taken into account. If a local doctor, or a doctor of Bus Éireann's choice, who has been dealing with a person gives a full clear medical report for somebody, surely that supersedes anything Bus Éireann got previous to that.

I also have an issue with bus shelters. In my own area, people are standing in the rain outside a church waiting for a bus that stops five or six times a day. A bus shelter would be vital there.

There is one other thing and, unfortunately, it goes on. It is rural isolation. Looking at the census, it is a huge issue in many rural communities, for which rural transport and Bus Éireann services are game-changers. Sadly, some people are left behind or cannot get down to the bottom of the road, apart from using taxis on a continuous basis, which people cannot afford, or they cannot get taxis at all. I know somebody has got to pick up the tab for a service that should be there, especially in peninsula areas, to pick up elderly people to bring them to the main local bus. That is something rural transport could look into.

I would like an answer to the issue of the over-70s and that situation in Clondalkin.