Mr. Myles O'Reilly:

I will ask my colleague, Mr. Kearns, to address the question of insurance shortly. Deputy Troy made the point that we cannot have a relaxation of standards. We completely agree with that. He also asked how the subsidy would work. That is an important point. We envisage that the subsidy would be per journey. One would not pay a lump sum to the driver for the vehicle or for insurance but would subsidise each journey. The incentive would be for the driver to complete the journey and be paid the subsidy for that journey. We envisage that it would be the journey home. The driver would get a voucher from a publican or somebody else in the village and would, at the end of a week or month, present those vouchers to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection or the local authority and be paid for the journeys travelled. The level of subsidy would be whatever is required to make it worthwhile for the driver to offer that service. That will vary from one area to another but the passenger will only pay a certain amount to get in and out of the village. If there are not enough passengers, the service will not operate. Solving the problem of rural isolation and facilitating people getting into and out of the villages will take whatever subsidy is needed. We envisage that any user of the service would pay for the drive into the village but the return home would be largely met by a subsidy voucher.

Deputy Munster asked a number of questions about who would regulate this. This would be part of the National Transport Authority, NTA, regulations. For example, under the Taxi Regulation Act, as well as taxis there are local area hackneys and limousines. This would be an additional class of village transport service. We have pointed out that local area hackneys have not been successful because it is too restrictive in many ways and perhaps what we are proposing would replace that service but would be quite different from how local area hackneys operate.

We see this as complementary to the Local Link service. The main purpose of Local Link is to connect villages to other villages and to connect people living in villages to national transport links, trains, buses and so on. Our objective here is simply to get people from the areas surrounding the village into the village and back home.

These vehicles and drivers would be quite different from ordinary hackneys, which can travel anywhere in Ireland, and from taxis that can do many things that our proposal for village transport could not do. It was rightly pointed out that the regulations and examinations that apply to a driver becoming a taxi driver or hackney driver are very difficult to pass. Although there have been some changes in the last year or so, they are still very difficult to pass. If the driver's only role is within the village and surrounding areas, the type of examinations needed would be quite different. They do not need to know the area of the whole county or about taxis, just their own area. It would be much easier to recruit drivers than it is at present.

On the question of vehicles, there is undoubtedly an argument for a smaller vehicle than the eight or nine seat vehicle we have suggested. If it is to provide a proper transport service, especially getting people out of pubs and to their homes in the evening, capacity is needed. We believe that the proposal for an eight or a nine seat vehicle is the correct one but I can understand there would be arguments against that.

We are not seeking in any way to offer an Uber-type service. This would be regulated by the National Transport Authority. It would be enforceable by the NTA and the gardaí. It would not be a question of somebody unregulated driving his or her private car. However, it would have a restricted but very important role to get people from their homes in rural areas into and back out of the village. The people going from one village to another could be dealt with by Local Link. We do not think this would displace taxi drivers. As has been pointed out, there is a shortage of taxi drivers throughout the country because, for a number of years, the examinations to become a driver were much too difficult and the cost of operating a taxi in a rural area is not economical. It is not economical for many hackneys to operate either. This is where a subsidy is required. I have outlined how the subsidy could work.

With regard to the 15 km, that is an example. I take the point made about Belmullet. The hinterland of the village or small town would be the area. On the question about 1,000 persons, that will vary depending on the area and is simply given as an example.

Trips to hospital could be accommodated by the village transport service taking a person to the village, who is then picked up by the Local Link service and brought to the hospital.

The Uber-type service would not provide a solution for many reasons, not just lack of regulation. It operates successfully in urban areas. It would not be able to deal with the situation in rural areas.

I think I have answered most of the questions. I do not know if there are any others.