Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

I thank all those who have contributed to the debate and welcome the constructive approach adopted by Senators. As I indicated at the outset, my intention in bringing the Bill is to improve the provision of transport services throughout the country. Through this debate and our deliberations on Committee Stage, I hope the Bill can be further improved. I am grateful to Senators for raising issues with a view to ensuring the Bill will improve the licensing regime and at the end of the day provide a better public transport system. I do not wish to discuss the issues raised in great detail because it is better to tease them out on Committee Stage.

A number of Senators raised the McCarthy report's recommendations on the rural transport programme. All the recommendations in the McCarthy report will be considered and put before Cabinet before decisions are made. I am aware of the value of the rural transport programme which is financed by my Department and administered through Pobal. The programme did not meet favour in official circles for many years but my predecessors as Minister for Transport, the late Seamas Brennan and Deputies O'Rourke and Cullen, progressed it from a pilot scheme to its current form. It has been further expanded since I came to the Department and I have secured extra funding for it despite the economic crisis we have been facing since last year. The Government makes its decisions collectively and I will not be making a statement one way or the other until we consider the programme. I urge those who are making definitive statements that the programme has been discontinued to desist because they are only increasing anxieties, especially among the elderly. If the decision is ultimately made to discontinue the service, they can then make their party political broadcasts. I do not refer to anybody in this Chamber.