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

That is a suggestion from the Deputy to which I will give some consideration. All of this is in the context of a bus market that is growing. More passengers are using the services now than last year. Buses and services have been made available. The evidence of my commitment to the need to expand public transport in our country is the fact that, of the Supplementary Estimate of €110 million that I brought to the Dáil before Christmas, a little over half went to public bus transport companies, Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann.

I will give consideration to the point regarding the need to look at how licences are being granted to see if it is contributing at all to the challenge that we are facing.

I think it very unlikely in dealing with the services needed by villages and communities below a certain level, although I wish it were the case, that these can be provided without some support from the State. The point is that if they could be supported and delivered in a viable manner, we would not be in the situation where these services are being withdrawn in the first place.

We are working on a model to respond to the issues concerning routes 5 and 7 and we will look at how this broader matter can be dealt with.

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