Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. It is his first time to be in the House since the recess and it is nice to have him back in the hot seat.

I am sure it was only a typographical error, but I fail to see any acknowledgement of the role of the last Government in setting up the system. Even though the then Minister, former Deputy Noel Dempsey, came under much pressure last year, this vital service was retained. I am sure the Minister of State was attending meetings in his part of the country called by various organisations which mounted a co-ordinated and very successful campaign to have it retained. He has pointed to all of the services provided for people in an area in which there are no commercial services available and, without the intervention of the Government and the State, there would be no service and the people mentioned would be isolated.

The Minister of State raises a curious but valid question on school transport and the possibility of utilising some of the available capacity. His ministerial colleague, Deputy Cannon, also a former Senator, has been in charge of the school transport reorganisation and responsible for the cuts being implemented. The merger of the rural transport system and the school transport system should mean that, instead of cuts to the number of school bus routes in County Kerry, the buses that bring children to school could be used on the return journey to bring elderly people into town. Every day thousands of buses in rural areas return empty from schools. In many cases, they return to the depot in the local town. The diesel and the insurance are paid for, as is the tax on the vehicle, yet we have all these empty seats on buses every morning from Monday to Friday. When we speak about rural transport, we are talking about services in rural areas such as Portroe and Kenmare, possibly two days a week. At limited cost to the Exchequer and no cost to the school bus service, we would be able to transport thousands of people who are otherwise isolated for virtually eight or nine months of the year. Even if the school bus operator received €1 for every person brought to the nearest town, that would be money he or she would not otherwise receive. That could be paid by the passengers; therefore, there would be no cost to the State. It would just be a matter of merging the two in a more co-ordinated manner.

Perhaps the Minister of State and his ministerial colleague, Deputy Cannon, might get together and put an organised system in place. In some instances where school routes have been or are to be suspended this system might assist in maintaining school bus routes to small and rural schools. I commend the Minister of State for this joined-up thinking, which represents a step in the right direction. He also spoke about the services provided by the HSE, in respect of which we need the same co-ordination.

The Minister of State referred to administration costs which are large. There are opportunities to streamline the system and have other organisations involved. He also spoke about the councils being involved in running it, but I am not sure if that would be the right way to go. I know that councils have cut a lot of staff and are, therefore, severely understaffed in certain areas. I am not sure whether they have spare capacity as a result. However, other organisations, including community employment groups, are sometimes brought in to run rural transport services. We need to secure savings in the system rather than cutting routes. Keeping administrative support while cutting routes does not demonstrate joined up thinking and does not make sense. I do not envy the Minister of State's task in the weeks ahead because most Ministers are based in urban areas and are not aware of the value of rural transport. In 2009, when it was proposed to cut the rural transport scheme, the then Minister for Transport, Mr. Dempsey, attended a meeting at Kenmare at which people argued that Ministers from urban areas and the commuter belt did not have any concept of what the absence of rural transport services entails. They have taxis, the DART system and relatively punctual buses, whereas in areas such as south Kerry and north Tipperary the bus service, when there is one, may not run for all 12 months of the year.

I ask the Minister of State to examine the possibility of merging resources in the rural transport and school bus schemes. The Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, was able to plot routes where it would be possible for people in isolated areas to avail of a service. This would require advertising the service more widely. Existing routes and school transport services could be maintained and used by people who currently use rural transport services. While I accept this cannot be done in all areas because many buses will not return to the urban areas to which people want to travel, it is possible to expand the service at little cost to the Exchequer. Obviously, insurance and other factors would have to be considered.

I thank the Minister of State for coming before the House to outline his vision for rural transport. I hope he will work with the Minster of State, Deputy Cannon, and do battle at Cabinet level in the run-up to the budget. While I accept that there is no more low hanging fruit, that has been the case for two years. The rural transport scheme is vital and plays a valuable role in preventing rural isolation among the elderly and people living on their own. It must, therefore, be retained and Members on this side will support the Minister of State in fighting for it.