Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this issue because the timing is important. Behind the motion lies a very real concern about the effect on people in various parts of the country of a decision taken by Bus Éireann a number of weeks ago, which only came into the public domain in the last week to ten days. The company intends to reduce the amount of accessible bus stops across a variety of Expressway routes in Ireland. It is doing this because the Expressway service is not subsidised, which I ask the Minister to explain. I thought the general subsidy to Bus Éireann covered all of its services. The company has said it does not and, consequently, it is competing with private operators and needs to make its services more efficient.

As a result of the elimination of bus stops along the Expressway routes, which had been serving, admittedly, a small number of people, such people are now going to be denied access to the service. These people are primarily in the lower socio-economic groups and are mostly elderly people who rely on public transport. I have heard reports about people in County Wicklow who will now have to walk over a mile to get a bus. That is not acceptable. In my own part of the country, the matter was brought to my attention by a local councillor, Mr. Seán McGowan, who lives between the villages of Dromod and Rooskey on the N4. A number of passengers were being collected and alighting from the Expressway service there and had come to rely on it. Now they are going to be denied that service. The argument is that there is an Iarnród Éireann station at Dromod which they can access but it is a matter for speculation as to whether such changes will make the route more efficient. Councillor McGowan has argued at council level and in the local media that the amount of time saved as a result of coming off the N4 to pick up and drop off passengers would be minimal. He has also proposed that of the five services a day that are on the N4 between Sligo and Dublin, one in the morning and one in the evening could be retained.

However, this is a policy issue and not just a question of efficiency. Such is the concern that this morning at the meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications, all committee members, of all parties and none, unanimously agreed that a letter would be sent to Mr. Martin Nolan, the CEO of Bus Éireann, asking that the company suspend the implementation of its amended timetable, which is due to be introduced on 7 October, until a representative comes before the committee to explain and justify the company's actions. The committee also agreed to communicate with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport on the matter.

I am highlighting this issue, which is predominantly a rural one. When I say rural, I mean non-Dublin because the Expressway service goes into all of the major cities in the country. I raise the matter to highlight it and also to try to ascertain the view of the Minister. I assume the Minister is aware of the issue and I wish to know what steps, if any, he has taken to convey to the board and management of Bus Éireann the concerns that have been expressed to him by Deputies and Senators of all parties.