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

With fuel prices at an all-time high, many in urban areas like Dublin and its surrounds have turned to public transport, since the costs of owning a car have gone out of ordinary earner's reach. This cost has multiplied considerably in rural communities, especially since the introduction of carbon tax. Owning and running a car for young people, in particular, has become the same as owning their own home. It is not an option in rural communities. The expectation when carbon tax was forced on the people was that we would get a better warmer homes scheme, but we did not. People have been waiting in the cold for retrofitting for two years. We expected better grants for solar panels, but we did not get that either. When I met west Cork hoteliers and supermarket owners recently, they told me that applying for a solar grant is so complicated that they will not bother with it. Instead, they will pay out of their own pockets to install it.

What should the young and all other people in west Cork expect to get from our carbon tax payments, since we pay the most? One would expect a proper public transport service. In two and a half years of this Government, I have seen no delivery of a transport service in west Cork. Connecting Ireland remains "Disconnecting Ireland" in west Cork. There are proposals for new services, but that is kicking the can down the road. Due to the NTA's disconnected mindset, public transport is leaving public transport users, including young people, at the roadside since services are not allowed to expand.

Bus Éireann runs daily services in many communities. However, a bus might leave at 7 a.m. and not return until 6 p.m. Many of Bus Éireann's great staff are annoyed that I do not give their services a mention. However the management of Bus Éireann never speak to me about its plans for expansion in west Cork, if it has any at all.

There was no movement on transport in west Cork in decades until West Cork Connect came along. This private company delivers return services every two hours from Skibbereen, Clonakilty and Bandon to Cork daily. It also delivers services from Bantry, Dunmanway and Ballineen to Cork and back. West Cork Connect applied to the NTA to provide on-the-hour return services on these routes every hour. That application was refused. On the Friday before last, the company carried 1,000 college students and everyday travellers to and from west Cork on that day. However, it had to people at certain bus stops as it will not overcrowd its buses. West Cork Connect offered to do the State’s work for it by providing a service every hour on the hour. It did not seek a brown cent from the State for doing so, but it has been refused a licence.

In addition, a service to and from Goleen was offered several times daily by the same private operator. This was also refused by the NTA. Why was that the case? It was not going to cost the State a cent? All the company wants is a licence. People young and old in west Cork pay the most in carbon taxes and get the least in return. Our young people deserve the same opportunities as their counterparts in Dublin, Kildare or Wicklow. They deserve access to the same public transport services, every hour on the hour, whether they live in Drimoleague, Dunmanway, Clonakilty, Baltimore to Skibbereen. These opportunities must be explored and implemented immediately. If this does not happen, it will be an injustice to the great students from Skibbereen Community School, who are here today, and from every school throughout west Cork who have tried to support sustainability in their communities. In the not-so-distant future, the Tánaiste will become Taoiseach again. Will he inquire into the NTA's and the Department of Transport's refusal to develop a fair and proper transport system in west Cork designed to deliver a cleaner future for our young people?

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