Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Any Deputy will tell one that any changes to the scheduling of buses or the routes they travel, however slight they may be, can send the constituency office into overdrive. The Bus Éireann Expressway network reaches into almost every town and village in rural Ireland. For many rural dwellers, the service represents the only avenue of transport. It is a crucial service and its importance to the social fabric of hundreds of rural communities across the country cannot be overestimated.

Deputy Robert Troy pointed to an example involving my constituency, namely, the Waterford-Carlow-Dublin route. Bus Éireann's Expressway service serves the smaller communities on the route, including my home parishes of Ballyhale and Mullinavat. The two private operators in the area, which are working against Bus Éireann, bypass these communities with a view to getting from A to B quicker and cheaper. It is important to keep this in mind. This is an example of where the State needs to step in and where it has an obligation to the people of the affected communities to ensure their service is maintained. It is beyond belief in early 2017, with the economy recovering and the State's finances steadily improving, that the people of these rural communities could realistically face being stranded in social isolation.

The Grant Thornton report faults the Expressway services for the major losses and recommends the possibility of significant reductions in Expressway services, up to and including Bus Éireann exiting these operations altogether. If the latter happened, it would be unbelievable. This would result in Bus Éireann shutting down many of its key routes across the country, leaving many areas in between the big towns and cities with no direct Expressway services to Dublin or other cities. This cannot be considered acceptable. That this is even being considered as a potential option is creating considerable uncertainty and fear. The Government is allowing rural Ireland to be neglected once again. Obviously we need to strike a balance when it comes to efficiency, minimum standards of operation and a good deal for the taxpayer when subsidising such services. It is time, however, for a more hands-on approach from the Government, which must give a guarantee that it will step in when necessary where a service is clearly required but may not be commercially viable. After mass last Sunday morning, pensioners asked that we keep the service in their small areas because, if it is not kept, they will have no access to transport and no connection. It is important the Minister takes that on board.

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