Ciarán Cannon (Fine Gael)

"Rural transport is a gift and a godsend that meets a huge social need in rural Ireland. The proposal on €11 million for the rural transport scheme does not seem to make sense, given the great and important good the scheme is doing right across the entire nation. Every Member of the House knows the value of rural transport. Under no circumstances will we stand by and allow rural transport services to be taken away for the sake of €11 million." They are not my words but those of the Leader of the House when he spoke on the issue of rural transport on the Order of Business two weeks ago. Senator Cassidy was correct in every aspect of his contribution. The rural transport scheme meets a huge social need. It is a need that is very difficult to assess and quantify unless one meets, as many Senators have, the people who avail of this valuable service. One needs to speak directly with them and see the positive experience they have had.

I do not intend to vilify Colm McCarthy for preparing a report on behalf of the Government. He was simply carrying out an assignment given to him by the Minister for Finance. However, I am sure he has never sat in one of the buses served by this scheme. He has never listened to the stories of elderly people, many of whom live on their own in almost complete isolation. He has not spoken, as I did two weeks ago, to an elderly lady who looks forward every week to Friday morning and getting up on that day that is different from all others in the week. She recounted what that day means for her. She does her hair and picks out those nice clothes from her wardrobe that are not worn on other days. From the moment she steps on the bus she is with friends whom she will not see until the following Friday. She is brought to her local town to do all the things she might not otherwise be able to do. She is able to shop, collect her pension, post letters, get her hair done or simply sit with a cup of tea in the local café with her friends catching up on all the week's news. This lady told me it was this interaction that often compensated for the loneliness she felt at times. It is this interaction that convinces her that life has not left her behind, that she is part of a warm and caring community that still values her as a human being and that the contribution she made to the State over many decades has not been totally forgotten.

I refuse to vilify Colm McCarthy for simply doing his job, but I will not hesitate in vilifying a Government which prepared the terms of reference for that job. The Government did not state, "Look Colm, go ahead and recommend to us where you can make savings, but we do have limits. We do have a conscience and are not allowing you to touch the elderly or the disabled." Everyone, no matter how vulnerable, was a target in the Government's quest for cutbacks. Nobody was spared, which is nothing short of shameful. If the recommendation in the McCarthy report to dispense with the scheme is implemented, we will send my friend and many others back into isolation and set back the years of the progress made. Senator Keaveney has said progress was made by the Government. I acknowledge this and congratulate the Government, particularly the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, on making huge progress in the area of rural development and putting the scheme in place.

Having achieved so much and earned the respect of the elderly, why does the Government now choose to dispense with the scheme? Its removal should never have been included in the McCarthy report simply because it is morally wrong to do so. However, in the context of an economic assessment, the proposed axing of the service makes little sense in the overall scheme of things. In a bord snip report outlining almost €5 billion in cuts €11 million represents less than 0.25% of the proposed savings. That is the difference between treating the elderly with the respect they deserve and treating them with complete contempt. This €11 million, or 0.25% of the cuts proposed by Colm McCarthy, provides every year for over 1.2 million passenger journeys in rural areas. It provides for these journeys for people who simply have no other public or private transport options to go about their daily lives. It provides employment for 80 drivers directly employed by rural transport companies and a further 657 drivers privately employed.

Of course, the totally unquantifiable benefit accruing from the scheme is the saving in healthcare costs associated with the service. Many elderly people might end up in long-term care if they were subjected to total isolation. What other psychological problems might they have? We really do not know, but it is safe to assume there would be significant costs associated with dealing with the fallout of the axing of the scheme. Senators on both sides of the House have often praised the contribution of the former Taoiseach, Sean Lemass, to the life of the State. He was never willing to compromise on his values no matter what obstacle he faced. To this day, his values hold true. Given the contributions of Senators on both sides during the past hour or so, the majority of us retain those values.

It should be a matter of protecting the vulnerable.