James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)

There is a popular misconception that the rural transport scheme is solely directed at the elderly. This is untrue, since the scheme is open to anyone living in a remote area who wishes to access local towns or villages. For those under the age of 65 years, the cost of the return journey is €4 and a one way journey costs €2. There is currently a marked gender imbalance in the uptake of the service, with 80% of the passengers being female.

School busses sit idle between delivery and collection and they could be utilised to extend the rural transport fleet. This has been talked about for some time but nothing has taken place in this regard. As the buses in the scheme collect and return passengers to their homes, the fleet should be comprised of smaller buses which could carry between 14 and 22 passengers and better navigate country lanes. However an extension of the scheme could see larger buses being used to pick up those who are able to access collection points on main routes and so forth. It would be a major mistake to link the extension of the rural transport scheme to the new drink driving laws. This is happening in Fianna Fáil, particularly with promises made at parliamentary party meetings. Fianna Fáil cannot keep the proceedings of those meetings in complete secrecy. There are leaks.

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