Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. While I am glad to hear he has no plans to scrap the rural transport scheme, a number of issues need to be addressed. I would have grave concerns in regard to the proposal, despite the Minister of State's suggestion that nothing definite has been decided. There are 35 groups at present and to reduce that to eight groups will have serious consequences from an administrative point of view, given the smallest of those proposed groups will serve a rural population of 240,000.

I have serious problems with the idea of integration into local authority structures, which are under severe pressure at present. They may have an administrative structure but they are under pressure in regard to numbers, which are being depleted, and they may not be able to reach those who need services. In my opinion, it will not be possible to bring services to the level we want unless we have an input from the voluntary sector. It is crucial that this sector is brought into the system because, if not, there will be serious consequences down the line.

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