Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

The recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General is an horrendous chronicle of wanton waste. It is an indictment of Government and the system of governance over the years in question, as well FÁS itself. In reading the report we are reminded of the biblical injunction to fill barns in the years of plenty. Rather than doing so, however, we emptied barns, sold the timber rafters and sold some of the stonework as well. As we approach the years of need we find that we have wilfully emptied barns in a wasteful manner.

While it is a disgraceful indictment, it is incumbent upon us not to correct that error on the backs of the weak and needy, or on specific schemes that were cost-effective - or can be made so, in so far as they are not - and can deliver an important service to ordinary people. No scheme stands out more in this context than the rural transport scheme. As someone representing a rural constituency, no scheme has brought more change to the lives of ordinary people in isolated situations. It has meant a lot to women in rural areas, the older generation, people in need and those with various levels of disability. The scheme allows those living alone to shop and have other social contact, thus affording them basic human dignity and a decent quality of life.

It is not an argument to say that because we have a large number of cars such people do not need the rural transport scheme. They need the scheme because many of them cannot drive and have no one to take them from isolated areas to the nearest town. Many such people have nobody to look after them. It is a fallacy to put forward this Darwinian theory - that because there are cars, which they cannot drive or access, then buses should be withdrawn from them. The rural transport scheme is cost effective and must be maintained. The Leader should give a commitment to ask the Government not to correct wanton waste on the backs of the needy and underprivileged, including those who for years built up this country. We should not correct the ills of our society on the backs of those using the rural transport scheme. They need a vision for change in terms of social services.