Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I remember briefing the Minister about the Phoenix Park tunnel a long time ago. I must give credit where credit is due. The Minister took it on board when he had the opportunity to do so. As I imagine the Minister has found out, Irish Rail nearly denies the fact that it has the tunnel. I believe it will be of benefit to commuters, particularly commuters travelling from the west and south of the country as well as from the mid-west. They will now be able to get into Dublin city centre. That is a welcome development and the Minister is to be commended on the initiative.

I had to smile when I read the Bill and I saw a reference to the change in the title of the Railway Safety Commission. As you are aware, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, when Charlie McCreevy stood up where the Minister is sitting now and announced decentralisation throughout the country, he said the Railway Safety Commission was to go to the town of Ballinasloe. We are still waiting for it to happen. It was about the only announcement that we have had in the past decade for the town of Ballinasloe other than those relating to job losses or the closure of facilities. I recall questioning the Minister on numerous occasions about when the Railway Safety Commission would be established and when it was going to be decentralised to the town of Ballinasloe. Of course we now know that this never happened.

While I am on the issue of Ballinasloe, I wish to raise a matter with the Minister which I wrote to him about earlier this week, that is, the inter-urban greenway and cycleway that is being developed from Dublin to Galway. I have asked the Minister to look at this issue again because I believe a major mistake is being made in how this route is being mapped out. I have said in the House previously that what we need to do is start from a different baseline. That baseline should be the public lands available between Athlone and Galway, whether Bord na Móna lands, Coillte lands, National Parks and Wildlife Service lands or those of the former Land Commission, which still holds a significant land bank in the west. There are also many public rights of way that are no longer in use. I believe that if the Minister mapped out those in the first instance, he would be surprised by the amount of land available. The Minister could use this land to map out the route. We should also consider the attractions around them. I have no difficulty in that area. What is really frustrating is that this has not been done to date. Despite this, Roscommon County Council, on its own initiative, has used that particular model. The council now believes it is possible to secure an acceptable route between Athlone and Ballinasloe for the cycleway. It would be completely off road with no need to use the compulsory purchase order route. If it can be done between Athlone and Ballinasloe then I firmly believe it can be done between Ballinasloe and Galway. However, we need to go back and look at how we map it out. Rather than looking at scrapping that particular route - I know that is being given consideration at the moment in some corridors - I call on the Minister to look again at how the initial corridors were designed. I believe we can get a solution.

I wish to raise one more parochial issue. This issue has been brought to the attention of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and it relates to the Beara Breifne Way, which runs from west Cork right up to Cavan, where it could link in with the Ulster Way to create Ireland's answer to the Camino. It runs from the north to the south and right through the middle of the country. We have not benefitted from the Wild Atlantic Way or Ireland's Ancient East but we have major potential in this area. One small section needs to be completed to allow this way to be marketed and promoted. I have brought the matter to the attention of the Minister's officials. At issue in the capital programme would be a relatively small sum of money. Approximately €800,000 would complete this route and create Ireland's Camino. It would be of benefit to our part of the country, which has not seen the type of development in tourism that we have seen in the past.

I know that a number of people in the House have raised issues regarding the delivery of services by the various transport agencies and semi-State companies. There has been extensive frustration as people have seen services curtailed in recent years and, because of this, there has been reduced accessibility for some people. One issue that comes up regularly in rural Ireland is the question of the rail stations. In the case of smaller stations, Irish Rail is reducing the manpower available. This is forcing people to use the automated machines in stations rather than buying a ticket at the desk.

Let us consider the station in Roscommon town. If the station is not manned, people do not have access to public toilets or to any shelter if it is raining while they are waiting for the train to arrive. I find these automated machines difficult to operate. Let us suppose I am using the machine and there is a queue behind me. I find myself looking over my shoulder, trying to decide whether I have picked the right route and station. That is all well and good for me, but for older people it is a major challenge. On top of that, many older people use cash, but at least 50% of the time the machine will actually reject the money people put in. In the west and my part of the country in particular, where we have a large older population who use public transport services, we should provide staffing at these stations. It would not represent a major additional cost on Irish Rail. I imagine some mechanism could be found whereby staff could be available when the trains arrive and depart. Not providing this service amounts to removing the rail service for some customers.

Another frustrating issue is far broader and relates to transport to hospital appointments. I have taken this up at the committee with the National Transport Authority. The authority seems to be of the view that this is a local issue and needs to be dealt with locally. It is not. It is a regional issue. Our hospital networks are now set up on a regional basis. The NTA must engage with the hospital groups to address this issue. I will set out the matter in practical terms to highlight the problems we have. I know a young man who has muscular dystrophy. He has physical problems in accessing hospital appointments. He cannot afford to pay for a taxi because it costs him between €100 and €150 to go to a hospital appointment in Galway. He cannot avail of public transport because there is no bus, train or combination of bus and train that will get him to a hospital appointment in the morning and get him back on the same day to Roscommon town. He is in a situation whereby he has to cancel the hospital appointments that he really needs because he cannot physically get there and he cannot afford to pay for the taxi. The Department of Social Protection will not entertain payment for taxis. The HSE will not entertain payment for any transport service. The Saolta hospital group has completely dismissed the idea of giving any contribution towards the cost of transport. The only outlet that will consider providing transport is the ambulance service, if there is an ambulance available and if someone requires an ambulance. However, this only covers a limited number of people. People are losing out on access to hospital appointments. This is all because of a lack of connectivity between the transport providers. It would be far better if we had a bus service that could link up with the rail service so that we could get people into Galway city in order that they can get to their hospital appointments. Moreover, it would be far better if the hospitals would reschedule those appointments in order that people coming from Roscommon, Sligo or Mayo into Galway would not be given an appointment at 9 a.m.

They should be given an appointment for 11 a.m. or noon in order that they can travel on a train or bus. People living in the vicinity of Galway city should be given appointments at 9 a.m. If there was a small bit of joined-up thinking on this, we would deal with a major problem in rural Ireland. People cannot get to hospital appointments and appointments are being cancelled, resulting in people going back on waiting lists which compounds the delays in outpatient appointments.

Bus Éireann has stated that it cannot justify the continuation of inter-urban bus services between towns in the west because not enough people are using them. The Westport to Athlone service is under threat. If, instead of terminating in Athlone, it terminated in Ballinasloe, outside Portiuncula Hospital, which is 15 miles further on, many people with hospital appointments could use the service to attend them. GPs in Ballyhaunis, Ballinlough and Castlerea traditionally referred patients to Castlebar, but patients may not be able to attend those appointments because of the bus schedule. They may take the bus to Ballinasloe and have an appointment with a consultant there instead.

The driver behind the lack of connectivity must be the National Transport Authority. It is supposed to provide co-ordination between the various transport agencies, which are to be commended and are making progress. Announcements were made recently regarding my constituency in terms of transport services in County Leitrim, which are welcome. However, the strategy needs to be far broader than linking up various bus and rail services. People need to use bus and rail services because they need to get from A to B.

Sadly, because of the closure of the hospital in Roscommon and the establishment of regional hospital groups, far more appointments are taking place in Galway city. It should be remembered that the Saolta group covers a quarter of the country. I suggest the Minister asks the NTA to make contact with Saolta and establish a pilot project, based in Galway city and University Hospital Galway. From discussions with the former operations manager, Tony Canavan, I know he and his replacement would be very willing to facilitate the NTA in coming up with a viable solution that would ensure fewer people miss hospital appointments.

I have referred to people being marooned while trying to attend hospital appointments. As the Minister is aware, 30 months ago the Government had to suspend the motorised transport grant and the mobility allowance because of a legal issue. Since then, we have been promised that legislation will be provided to reinstate the payments. The grants are for people with disabilities who cannot avail of existing public transport services. If people with a physical disability, in particular those in wheelchairs, want to use many Bus Éireann routes, they need to book a place 24 hours in advance. We are marooning people with disabilities in rural Ireland because they cannot access supports. The mobility allowance continues to be paid to people who were in receipt of it before the suspension took place. The motorised transport grant has been completely suspended. I understand there is now a delay in the payment of the mobility allowance in the HSE and people are now being paid annually.

On a related issue, there also seems to be an anomaly in the prompt payment system that allows contractors to hospitals to maximise compensation payments, in some cases multiples of the actual moneys due to them. The systems in place are falling down and we need to try to ensure these systems are addressed and responsive to the needs of the public.

I keep raising the issue of transport in the context of health because it is a major factor in people failing to attend appointments and being denied medical services. Some people cannot physically get to appointments. The medical card system is supposed to take account of that fact. If someone in Arigna in County Roscommon has a hospital appointment in Galway, he or she cannot use public transport. It would cost him or her about €200 to pay for a taxi. If that is a once-off, it is not too bad, but sadly if one is diagnosed with cancer and travels to Galway regularly, it will involve a significant amount of money.

Despite this, when the HSE calculates allowances for medical expenses, it does not take such things into account even though in theory it states it does. A person living in Galway city is being treated in St. Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin and receives an allowance of €11.54 per week to cover his medical expenses, including transport from Galway to Dublin. His next door neighbour is being treated in Galway University Hospital and receives the same allowance, even though she lives five minutes away from the hospital. There is something wrong with that. While it is not within the remit of the Minister, his role as Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is far more significant for people who are ill than he probably realises.

In the Minister's constituency, public transport serves local hospitals, but in rural Ireland transport is a significant limiting factor in accessing prompt treatment. It is this lack of connectivity between the various agencies that is causing the problem. I urge the Minister to ask the NTA to take the lead on this issue, improve the utilisation of existing public transport services and ensure that, despite their best efforts, hospitals can become more efficient.

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