Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for anticipating the second part of my question regarding Knock Airport. The proposal is quite simple. Let us start on a phased basis, say, for the months of June, July and August, that the bus would run down as far as Knock Airport. Telling me there is connecting buses is like telling me I can get a flight to a holiday destination and that I can get a cheaper flight if I fly to London, then on to somewhere else and keep changing flights until I get there rather than taking direct flights. People want direct services, particularly if they are going on holidays and they have baggage. I do not understand why it cannot be rostered in such a way. If it takes more buses and more frequencies, so be it. We are entitled to services. I believe an awful lot of people would leave their cars at home and take the bus to the airport. Some 800,000 people are using Knock Airport every year and that would reduce the carbon footprint along that route quite considerably.

To go back to the 432 service, will the Minister of State ask the Minister for Transport to ask the NTA to ask Local Link to send me details of the additional stops and how far apart these are going to be compared with, for example, urban bus stops? I have been trying to get this information for a considerable time. Will they also give me details as to what they mean by saying they are going to operate smaller buses on this route to allow for a more flexible operation of services? Will they explain how this is going to give us more flexible services, what they mean by more flexible services, and what the changes are? Will the Minister of State note my disappointment on the fact Ros Muc does not now have the service it had 20 years ago? That is all we are looking to be restored.

Finally, with the great indulgence of the Ceann Comhairle, I mention to the Minister of State this policy issue of the Department of Transport responding to every question asked about rail, etc., by saying it is an operational matter for the various agencies involved. Will the Minister of State ask the Minister for Transport to answer one question? Surely it would be a policy issue, if the Minister made it a policy, that when the NTA is deciding on these services it would provide places and specify the maximum distance between bus stops in any part of the country. One can make any policy you want when you are a Minister. That is what being a Minister is about. I do not accept this perennial answer that the Minister has no policy on anything and that these agencies are running wild and are not providing a service. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his indulgence.

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