Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for his answer but I do not think he quite grasps what the question was all about. He spent about two minutes talking about fishing and farming. Good God, he should come down to west Cork and talk to the fishermen and farmers. He will not be long there; he will be run out of it quickly.

The Taoiseach has to be straight with the public here. Outside of Dublin the local commercial bus operators are the biggest operators in the country, carrying out 30 million passenger trips yearly, mainly in rural Ireland. In a recent meeting with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, the private operators asked straight up why they were not included in the 20% bus decrease for young people on their buses. They were told it was for financial reasons that the Minister could not go ahead with it. To the whole country's astonishment, a few weeks later, he announces a 50% decrease, again excluding young people in rural Ireland. Where did this Minister find the money that he did not have a few weeks earlier? Was it carbon tax money robbed from the hard-working people of rural Ireland? The local commercial operators are convinced this Minister wants to wipe them out of business and basically get rid of them. One of them asked me why he does not just come out and be honest about it and not drip-feed, destroying their business day by day. Can the Taoiseach tell me today that this is not a fact? What is the exact date that local commercial bus operators will be allowed to pass on the same decrease allowed for all Dublin city travellers to students in rural communities?

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