Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir O'Toole as a chuid ama a roinnt liom. I welcome the Minister of State. From the contributions I have heard so far, some of which I missed because I was attending a Council for the West meeting at which rural transport was firmly on the agenda, it is clear there is unanimity on both sides of the House on the issue of retention of the rural transport initiative.

I cannot support either motion. I agree with some of the contents in the Fianna Fáil amendment, and my report acknowledged that one of the success stories in the west is the rural transport initiative, but I cannot support the Fine Gael motion because of its call to open these routes to competition. Privatisation of our public transport system is not the best approach for communities. We should follow the examples of cost effective initiatives in Brussels and Stockholm where it has been shown that public transport services can be excellent. They would put our system to shame. I cannot support the motion but I support the spirit of the motion in terms of retention of the rural transport system.

I refer to the report I did on behalf of the Joint Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. People ask me what I saw as working well in the west. I saw a number of initiatives working well but particularly Shannon Development and the rural transport initiative, which opened up rural communities for the first time in many years. The Minister was commended in my report but at that time the single issue that arose as I met over 100 groups across the west was rural transport. My report called not just for retention of the scheme but its development into a better scheme.

There are examples of these schemes in other countries. The Netherlands, for example, has a dial-up service. It is one of the best regional development tools and was awarded by the regional development Commissioner in Europe as being one of the best examples in terms of these schemes. There are areas where we could do work like that here but, unfortunately, that is not what we are seeing from the McCarthy report.

It is easy for us to blame the McCarthy report but we must remember that the recommendations initially came from the Department of Finance. They were all appraised by that Department. The fingerprints of senior officials in the Department are all over those proposals and unfortunately they are the people who are writing the budget. I agree with Senator O'Toole that we are looking at the McCarthy report being implemented in full because given that the same officials in the Department of Finance got it so wrong in terms of tax receipts recently the Government's only strategy is to go deeper with the cuts.

I attended a meeting some weeks ago with approximately 500 users of this service and it was humbling to be in their presence and to listen to their stories. Some of the contributions earlier mentioned grannies living in isolation and so on but it must be remembered that this scheme is in place because there is no public or private transport in these areas, and people need to get from A to B. It is not about a granny bus or a bingo bus. It is an essential part of transport in rural Ireland. It helps not just elderly people but also young people and other commuters get from A to B. It should not be described as something it is not. From listening to the users of this service it is clear there is palpable anger at even the suggestion that the service be ended and the fact that the Government will not come out and say it is safe. It costs €11 million to provide for 1.2 million journeys. That is pittance in terms of what needs to be spent on this service but the thought of taking that away is wrong.

Sitting here listening to the debate I realised that over the lifetime of the Dáil and the Seanad the expenses drawn down by the 60 Senators and 166 TDs, and we are seeing our expenses being published on a regular basis, and rightly so, is probably in excess of €11 million in terms of travelling from our constituencies to Dublin. When we compare that to the 1.2 million journeys that will be denied if the €11 million funding per year is withdrawn it is an indication of the thinking of the Dublin 4 economists.

I will conclude on this point, which I have made previously and which other people have made to me. They raised the issue of the Ceann Comhairle's expenses and talked about the efficiency of the rural transport scheme and the little cost involved in getting somebody living in an isolated rural area from A to B. Those people would not have that service but for this scheme. They asked me how the Government can even consider abolishing the scheme while at the same time it acquiesced in terms of the Ceann Comhairle spending ST£799 on a limousine to travel from one terminal to a VIP lounge. That is the hypocrisy that exists at this level and it is the problem that must be tackled.

I welcome the statements from the Leader of the Seanad and from other Government Senators but I hope they will be put into action. We must put people at ease and tell them that this service will be continued. Unfortunately, I cannot support either motion.