Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has made some very fair and important points. One of the big drivers in all of this has been the fact that we have so many new and improved national routes. There is a great demand from communities on those national routes to make use of services from point to point. As a consequence, some communities are now facing either a significant reduction in a service or a complete loss of that service.

I will set out a direct answer to the core question the Deputy has put to me regarding how this should be managed. I am considering how we could develop it in future, but the way it is being done at the moment is that in the absence of a commercially feasible service we are looking at the alternatives that could be put in place and which would be affordable to the taxpayer to deal with the needs that I know rural and local communities have. This work is ongoing and I expect that we will be in a position to be able to confirm how routes 5 and 7 will be dealt with.

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