Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

For many reasons, it would be impractical at present to use CIE school buses, one obvious reason being that most of them are too big to go down the bóithríní. It is no good leaving someone half a mile from his house.

I want to make transport available to all rural people as it is made available without discrimination to all urban people. There should not be a means test or an age test to get on a bus in rural areas in the evening. I am considering a transport service that will be available to all within the catchment areas where there is currently no transport service. It might be done by hackneys or small buses, many of which would be contracted during the day for school bus runs.

It is my intention that those who can afford to pay will pay. For those in rural areas, it is not a refusal to pay that denies them the service, it is the fact the service is not there at all. If a person wants a hackney, unless it comes 20 miles from the nearest town, it is not possible. Availability of transport is the number one priority followed by pensioners and those with free travel being able to avail of travel in the evenings. It will be community driven. The shape of the scheme will be decided by the RTOs or Leader partnership companies, it will not be driven by vested interests — community good will be the hallmark of the service. A youth club that cannot get kids safely home has as much of a problem as the person who has three pints and would be wiser not to drive. The scheme will offer an equality of service to rural areas compared to urban areas. It will start on a pilot basis.

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