Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

There are commitments to the rural transport programme in the national development plan, Towards 2016, and in the Department of Transport's sectoral plan under the Disability Act 2005. The renewed Government programme contains a commitment to explore the provision of a full-scale transport system in rural areas, using the network expertise of Bus Éireann and the resources of the school and health transport systems. The development of rural transport is a key objective of the Government's sustainable travel and transport plan, Smarter Travel - A Sustainable Transport Future. The primary objective of my Department's rural transport programme is to address social exclusion in rural areas arising from unmet public transport needs. The funding for the programme has increased substantially, from €3 million in 2004 to €11 million this year. The programme operates in all counties and is expected to carry 1.5 million passengers this year. It is an important element of Government policy.

The Government is considering all the recommendations in the special group's report. Decisions will be made by the Government in the context of the budget for 2010 and later years. To assist with that task, the Government has referred the report to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service for its views prior to the budget. It is important that existing resources in the rural transport sector are utilised as cost effectively as possible. A number of initiatives are under way in that context.

The potential for improved synergies between existing transport providers - such as the Health Service Executive for health transport, the Department of Education and Science for school transport, Bus Éireann for rural transport, Pobal for rural transport programme services and other transport providers, such as the Irish Wheelchair Association - is being explored. These initiatives involve pilot transport projects in the north east and the north west, an exercise to map all transport services in County Louth and a cross-Border pilot rural community transport project under the auspices of the British-Irish Council. The outcome of these initiatives will feed into the process of developing future rural transport policy.

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