Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will raise some transport issues that have arisen during the pandemic. When school bus capacity was reduced to 50% and parents were told that if they drove their children to school they could seek a refund of their free travel, was there ever a discussion about just hiring extra buses? Private bus and coach operators could certainly do with the business. The Federation of Transport Operators, FOTO, is only too willing to engage with the Government on this issue. Many of us have received correspondence from the organisation regarding this issue. It was shocking that so many children were left without places and that additional capacity was not brought on stream.

I have a larger issue regarding a private operator. A man in Carlow contacted me last week. He had applied to operate a rural bus service around County Carlow. He had done all the work, had applied for it and was told that he had the contract. He did not have a bus in his name, because he was waiting to see if he would get the contract. One morning last week, he received notification that he had the contract, but by that evening he was told that he did not have the contract because he did not have a bus in his name. He did have other buses. How could anyone from the Department have expected that man to have changed buses and got a bigger vehicle, if he was not going to get the contract? I was wondering how it could happen that someone was told in the morning that he had the bus route, contracted from the Department, but that it was taken away from him by that evening. What is more, when I rang the Department, the bus route was gone and had been given to someone else. We need to look at these things and what we are doing. We cannot forget that we need to support our rural areas.

Why do we have rules for some sections of society and different rules for others? Several constituents contacted me to say that they were no longer allowed to drive a bus because they had turned 70 years of age. While we are all trying to protect those aged over 70 from Covid-19, this is not the reason those people cannot continue to drive. I have repeatedly asked why an Irish citizen can serve as a public representative after the age of 70 in the Dáil or the Seanad, but such a person is not allowed to drive a bus. We must really look at this system.

I also want to talk about my home area of Carlow town. We are in the process of working with the NTA on Carlow town's bus service. Meetings are ongoing, but I would like a written reply to let me know when that service will be started. Meetings are welcome, and I welcome that the service is supposed to be going ahead - and my understanding is that it is - but I would like some dates. Will the Minister please respond to me regarding this issue?

We also have an excellent service in Carlow and Kilkenny, which is one of the best, the Ring-A-Link service.

See this speech in context