Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is very welcome that there has been a substantial increase in Local Link services throughout rural Ireland in recent years. The Minister has placed a particular emphasis on public transport, and I welcome that. There are areas where it is not feasible to have a bus service. There are people - many elderly people and so on - who do not have immediate family support and do not have their own transport. They have to get a hackney or a taxi to go about their weekly business or whatever.

If a system was brought in to partially grant-aid local hackney services, it would be a big help to many people on low incomes who do not have their own transport.

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