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

Affordable and reliable public transport is a lovely idea and a lovely dream but it is not happening in rural Ireland. I have had many debates with the Minister for Transport as to why it is not and he says that he does not have the money but suggests that something from Castletownbere into Bantry and Kilcrohane in west Cork might be possible. It is a matter of kicking the can down the road. I keep pushing for that to happen and I hope it will happen along the Durrus line. He is also talking about services from Skibbereen to Killarney but there is nothing there. He has been in office for two and half years and has not delivered. I ask him what he is doing with the carbon tax money. I do not begrudge that but if you go down to Wicklow or anywhere around here, you will see a bus every five minutes. However, in west Cork, a bus leaves Goleen at 7.30 a.m. and returns at 6 p.m. and that is it. That is the service. If I need to use public transport to come to Dáil Éireann I have to plan two days ahead. It might get me here at some time in the evening but it will not get me here on time. It is simply not good enough for the people of Kinsale, Belgooly and Riverstick who have no proper continuous bus service to and from Cork. It is not good enough that a company like West Cork Connect that wants to provide a service on the hour every hour is being blocked from doing so.

I commend the likes of Cork Local Link. I have a conflict of interest in that I am on the board but I am proud that I am a volunteer and have never taken a brown cent in expenses or anything else to attend my meetings. I drive down from Dublin especially to be at those meetings because, with the little money it has, the Local Link service delivers to as many people as it can. It is a fantastic company, as are all Local Link companies. Regardless of who funds them, they are not funded enough to deliver. Why are people from Dunmanway to Clonakilty not being looked after? Why is there no service there? Why are we in west Cork treated as second-class citizens when the people of this country can get a fantastic service because of the carbon tax and whatever else? We in rural Ireland pay for it but it is delivered everywhere else.

In the little bit of time I have left, I will commend the people behind Cancer Connect. It is a fabulous service set up under Local Link a number of years ago. It is a voluntarily-delivered bus service but it needs funding from the State. It is a fabulous service but it is being funded by the people of west Cork when it needs to be funded by the State as well. It is a disgrace that has not happened. Promises have been made and need to be delivered upon.

If we are paying the most in carbon tax, we need a proper public transport service to be delivered. It is only fair.

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