Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter regarding the extension of the rural transport initiative to north Monaghan. This successful national pilot programme is aimed at those who are excluded and do not have available, accessible or affordable local transport. The rural transport initiative should be extended to north Monaghan. I do not need to extol the virtues of this excellent scheme which has proved a phenomenal success. It was piloted but has been adopted as an ongoing programme and funded by the national development plan. It has opened up the lives of many people. There was a time when a son or daughter would be around the house and would be able to take their parents into town, but that time is gone. We must replace it with some form of rural transport initiative.

I understood that there was a transport programme in north Monaghan but then I met a woman who lives four miles outside of town. She explained to me that it costs €8 to take a taxi into town and another €8 to come back out. She was reasonably well off but very concerned about her neighbours in Knockatallon who might have to spend €15 each way for a taxi into town. If one is on a pensioners' income, one will not go into town very often if that is what it costs. The real tragedy is that there was a successful initiative operated by CIE for six or seven years. There were two schemes in the north Monaghan area. The first covered Bellanode, Scotstown, Knockatallon and Tedavnet and the second covered Knocknagrave, Crush, Carrickroe, Clara, Ballyoisin, Mullan, Emyvale and Glaslough. Those schemes were well supported but the head honchos in Dublin decided that the routes were not making enough profit. Are these routes put on to make a profit or to provide a service? It should be a mixture of both. A good mix of people supported these two initiatives, so much so that in regard to the Carricroe-Clara-Emyvale scheme, a private bus operator thought he could keep it going. I spoke to that private operator recently and he informed me that he cannot continue in operation, much as he would like to do so because he has family and other contacts in the area. I asked him about the people with free bus passes and he said he cannot charge them even though he is entitled to do so. People who use the bus as an extra service support him.

There is room to extend the rural transport initiative to this area of Monaghan. It meets all the criteria. We have lovely brochures on rural transport initiatives but the transport is not available, accessible or affordable to people locally. Why does the Department bother giving people free bus passes? It is an insult to give them a free bus pass if the transport service is not available. Providing these passes in such circumstances is meaningless. Society is marginalised enough in rural Border areas. We are talking about people who are living ten to 15 miles from town and this service gives them a major lift in that they can go to town every so often.

There are a number of successful examples in the constituency. We have the Balti Bus in the Latton-Ballybay-Bawn areas, which is operated from the Latton Resource Centre. In the Kilnaleck community co-operative, we have another successful example of a rural transport initiative and we also have Rural Lift in Blacklion. The Cavan-Monaghan constituency lends itself very well to that type of initiative. In my area of north Monaghan the rural transport initiative should be put back in place. We should be proactive about this issue. We should do a survey on it. The scheme was operated in the past and it was used. People used the transport system and if they used it in the past I have no doubt they will use it in the future. That is what rural transport is about. It is about opening up people's lives and allowing them travel into town. It is a type of socialisation programme for people. I ask that serious consideration be given to re-adapting this programme for the north Monaghan area because it is very much needed.

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