Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

The bids came from the existing rural transport groups around the country because we did not wish to duplicate bureaucracy. I insisted on a small proportion of the money going on administration and this was laid down. The operators could not spend much on administration. As for the groups involved, West Cork Rural Transport is in Munster, as is Avondhu Development Group in east County Cork. As Meath Accessible-Kilnaleck Community operates in counties Cavan and Meath, it is half in Leinster and half in Ulster. The County Sligo Leader Partnership operates in north Connacht, as does Tumna Shannon Development Company, County Roscommon. Síob Teoranta operates in County Donegal and Laois TRIP in western County Laois. Consequently, there are one and a half operators in Leinster, one and a half in Ulster, two in Connacht and two in Munster. Unfortunately for me, none was in County Galway. They simply did not win the bid.

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