Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As Deputy Dooley has said, this debate has been prompted by a discussion document that has been received by all the rural transport groups. It is important to record our feelings about the contents of the document. Contrary to the Deputy's suggestion, the groups involved in the rural transport network recognise that restructuring is required.

I want to ensure the social inclusion element of the rural transport programme, which is the root of its success, is retained when the restructuring takes place and the regional groups are formed as proposed in the document. The social inclusion element of the programme meant that people went from door to door to provide information about the availability of a facility that allowed residents to access health services and travel to local towns. We want to retain the bottom-up integrated approach to rural transport that we have had to date.

I was involved in the establishment of the west Offaly rural transport programme, which has expanded to cover most of County Offaly. I was there at the beginning when we talked about the need for rural transport in the area. I went down boreens and knocked on doors to tell people that this fabulous facility was being made available to them. We had to break down barriers and explain to people who viewed this with suspicion that something good was being done in rural areas. We did all of that.

I will conclude by mentioning that in my experience, the administration costs of these programmes account for between 13% and 14% of the overall cost. A higher level - in the order of 30% or 40% - is referred to in the discussion document.

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