Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for the opportunity to raise the important issue of the replacement of bus services that are urgently required in County Laois. I am speaking on behalf of the people of Mountrath, Castletown, Pike of Rushall and Borris-in-Ossory, who rely each day on the JJ Kavanagh & Sons bus service.

People received shocking news last week when they were told that from next Tuesday, 16 April, JJ Kavanagh & Sons will be withdrawing from the route through those towns. There are eight buses travelling in each direction each day and JJ Kavanagh & Sons has provided an excellent service over the years. However, the company has made a commercial decision and people are very disappointed. People use these services to go to work in the morning and return home at night, to do their shopping and daily business in Portlaoise and to go to hospital and medical appointments. Students use them to get to third level colleges. Other people use them to see their family and friends. Many people plan their lives around the public transport bus services and, as public representatives, we are here to serve those people. To put it in context, this is the Dublin to Limerick return route and the people in Moneygall, Toomyvara and Birdhill are also impacted by this decision. However, the people in Laois are primarily affected. JJ Kavanagh & Sons wishes to operate mainly on the motorway and to skip all the local towns because it says it is losing business on the motorway routes if it is taking the longer route through those small towns.

The issue is that a replacement service is required when this service is withdrawn next Tuesday. An application was made to the National Transport Authority and it approved the change of licence. It did not have much choice in the matter, but obviously it has known about this for some time although the news only broke locally a few days ago. The authority has had ample time to ensure a replacement service is put in place. I will quote from what appears to be a very good press release from the authority last Friday, and I hope it will deliver on the good intentions contained in it. That is all we want. I have no wish to have an argy-bargy on this, just to have confirmation before the Dáil gets up tomorrow that there will be a replacement service. The NTA stated "where commercial operators withdraw or curtail services, the Authority examines whether, in the absence of any commercial services, a public service obligation (PSO) exists to provide socially necessary but commercially unviable public transport services". The authority has examined this as a result of the change in the licence, which it would have known about as it has been dealing with the application. It stated "The Authority has completed an examination of the affected locations and has determined that there is in fact a requirement to continue to provide services to meet the social need."

According to the statement, funding is not an issue, there is a local service requirement, there is a public service obligation and it must provide for that. To that end it has been engaging locally with Bus Éireann, Local Link in Tipperary and Local Link in Laois with a view to providing solutions for customers next week. I also received an email from the chief executive of the National Transport Authority in which she said that the NTA is doing this with a view to providing solutions for bus customers at local level both in the short and long term. People understand that to mean that next week there will be a short-term solution until a new procurement process is put in place for a long-term arrangement with another local operator. That is what we seek - a seamless transition. We understand JJ Kavanagh & Sons is leaving the route, but people will need a subsidised PSO service. Everybody agrees that should happen but I hope the Minister will be able to confirm that it is in place for next Tuesday. There is a willingness on the part of the NTA to do it but we must ensure it happens seamlessly from next Tuesday.

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