Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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My understanding is that is not working. Old people are being put in minibuses, etc. I am talking about existing services, with buses of 45 or 50 seats, that go to Dublin. The luxury buses are being taken away and a substandard services would be substituted. That will not work. Rural Ireland deserves its whack too from the PSO. Much of it goes to Dublin, although I know there are 1.2 million people here and they need public services. We in rural Ireland need public services too and it is a matter of balancing the issue. That must be done. We cannot have some kind of substandard service that people will not use because of timescales and buses not being up to scratch. I attended a presentation last week relating to this and I have been told a substandard service has been substituted and it is nothing like what was there before. It is not working. I want to hold what we have with a proper service.