James Heffernan (Labour)

I wish to share time with Senators Moloney and Landy.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kelly, back to the House. He was once a Member, although he did not spend too long here. It is good to see him back in his capacity as Minister of State and I wish him the very best in that role. Coming from the predominantly rural constituency of north Tipperary, similar to my own, he is well aware of the issues and problems facing people who live in rural areas, especially that of isolation. The causes of rural isolation are varied, but much of it is down to the fact that we are becoming a lot less friendly towards our neighbours. In these recessionary times, it is good to see that people are going back to the old ways of visiting the people down the road, inquiring about them and looking after them. The rural transport initiative provides a lifeline for people such as these, especially those who are elderly, have disabilities or do not have a family to look after them. From that point of view, it has been, to an extent, a success. I will say that in recent years it has been a measured success.

I would like to bring some of the deficiencies in the rural transport initiative to the attention of the Minister of State. Every Thursday, without fail, as I would be on my way to work in Mitchelstown, I would collect an elderly woman who would be standing at the side of the road hitching a lift. She was all talk about the bus and this, that and the other. I asked her why she was not getting the bus up to town and she would say it went too late and came home too early. We are providing a service for these people, but how good that service is must be questioned. It gives people only a couple of hours to spend in town. Many of these people are elderly and have mobility problems and they need a bit of time to go around and do their business, get a bite to eat and so on before they return home. Issues such as this need ironing out.

The Minister said in his statement that funding of €10 million was allocated for the rural transport programme and that this was subject to a value for money review. When I looked briefly over a submission given by a rural transport organisation, I was shocked to see a map of Ireland showing around 36 groups that receive funding to operate the rural transport scheme in the various areas. Is this a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth? It is a good project, but I do not know whether we are delivering it in the most effective way possible.

According to the recent survey mentioned by Senator O'Neill, about 50% of people believe there is no transport in their areas, although, as Senator Daly pointed out, there are school buses, HSE buses and so on. The services are available, but are the people providing the services doing enough to advertise them and let people know they are available?

I support what the Minister of State is trying to do in delivering a more integrated service. As he said, the scheme that was operated in the north west has been a success. I urge us all to support the Minister of State in his aim of achieving a more integrated rural transport service.