Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Rural communities are leading the way when it comes to sustainability, but if we are to get buy-in from everybody in rural Ireland when it comes to low-carbon alternatives, we must put those alternatives in place. That is especially true of transport. I am a firm believer in the "every village, every hour" concept, so that no matter what village or town you are in in Ireland, there will be a public transport option - a public bus at the very least, available to you.

The Taoiseach is very familiar with west Cork and how remote the villages and towns on the peninsulas are, and the fact that they are not served by public transport at the moment. At the most, there is one public bus per day. I ask him to ensure that we explore the concept of "every village, every hour" and we make sure that there is a proper functioning public transport system to serve rural Ireland.

Furthermore, we must not let cost be a barrier for young people. The initiative to extend a 50% reduction in public transport to 19 to 24-year olds is fantastic, but cost is a barrier to young people using public transport and we must remove that barrier.

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