Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

I thank the Minister of State and wish him well in his new office. While I welcome parts of his reply, I am disappointed with the last part. The Minister of State admitted that he comes from a rural area similar to mine. Somebody needs to tie the elements of this together. We have the new legislation in the Road Traffic Act, rural isolation and the lack of transport. This is despite the operation of the rural transport programme, RTP. It is not operating anywhere at night. Ring a Link has tried to do it. The Minister of State has met people from Ring a Link and I hope he will be able to meet the group from south Tipperary to examine what it is doing. Somebody needs to bring this issue together.

As regards rates and tax, we cannot simply say it is somebody else's responsibility. I acknowledge that it is but when the previous Minister was introducing legislation, he promised there would be tax incentives for publicans who wished to buy an eight-seater vehicle to help to keep their business alive. Remember, they are paying rates, tax, income tax, insurance, wages and so forth. This is vital if they wish to provide transport. Otherwise the tourists the Minister of State mentioned will not visit anywhere other than hotels. I hope the Minister of State will try to bring that together. Given his background, he should put together a working group to examine this. The budget is only a few weeks away so the Minister of State should see whether he can do something in that regard.

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