Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I second the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by my colleague, Senator Averil Power.

It never occurred to me until last weekend the impact a song can have on the future economic success of a particular area. Having said that, a monument should be erected to Pete St. John who wrote "The Fields of Athenry", as one of the fields is going to be used to create much needed employment in that part of the west which we all welcome. I am afraid "Lovely Leitrim" did not have the same impact in Country Leitrim in terms of development but maybe there is still hope that the Government might move in that direction.

On the same weekend that the Fine Gael Party was in Castlebar the national bus company was proposing the cancellation of yet another dimension to the life of rural Ireland. I fail to understand how anybody would stand over the most recent announcement. I appreciate that Bus Éireann must pay its way. I said previously, in respect of the withdrawal of similar services from the towns of Drumsna and Rooskey in my home county on the N4 and also in association with similar small towns in east Mayo last year, if the concept of the support of bus services is that they are subsidised, that there is a social dimension and they are not necessarily seen as money making machines Government. Surely the Government has a moral obligation to ensure it does not operate a two-tier economy. There is no public service transport facility in the world that is not subsidised by the relevant Government. It is fine in terms of transport services if one happens to live in certain parts of the country but if one lives in other parts which are less populated one will be denied services. I say this coming from a position of strength because in County Leitrim we have seen a continual withdrawal of bus services and public services. Around the town of Ballinamore there is no public service to link it to any part of either west Cavan, Longford and, ultimately, Dublin. Will the Leader invite the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to the House to discuss the Government's commitment, if any, to ensuring rural bus services are maintained? If they cannot be maintained by Bus Éireann the National Transport Authority, which has entered the fray in respect the recent controversy, has said it would consider subsidising some routes.There should be some sort of joined-up thinking in respect of this matter. In circumstances where Bus Éireann either cannot or will not provide services, then feeder services to larger towns should be provided by the National Transport Authority under the rural lift programme.