Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

What I am saying about the Bill is, like Deputy Michael Collins said, there is nothing about rural proofing. What will help the people who will be isolated in rural areas because they cannot go to have the one bit of comfort they have, to meet their friends and neighbours in a pub? I heard other Deputies say there were several places for people to go in rural areas, but in most of the county I know the rural villages have only a pub and there are no other facilities for people in rural areas. At one stage, Deputy Heydon suggested 33 or 35 buses would be put in place to take people home. Surely he is not serious that they would cover all of the 26 counties or, if we leave out Dublin, 25 counties. We could also leave out Cork city. Those buses would not cover the rural parts of Cork or Kerry on their own. No realisation is given to what will happen people in rural Ireland. They are lonely as it is but they will be made lonelier, especially farmers and gentlemen living on their own who have little to look forward to after their hard day's work or hard week's work. Before this, they were able to come in to their local pub and have a pint or two and they would have the slip they got at the mart and they would talk about how much they were paid for the calves and the weight of the calves, and they were able to discuss-----

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