Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

In view of the concern expressed on both sides of the House on the withdrawal of certain bus services from rural areas, I call for a debate on rural transport. There are many options. The school bus service ends soon after 9 a.m. each morning. A total of 114,000 children travel on the service every day, amounting to 42 million trips per year on 6,000 routes. There is an independent bus sector, which has most of the 8,500 large public service vehicles licensed to operate, but those in the sector do not have route licences. The post office goes to every house in the country. We had a post bus service in Clare that was shut down, but it is a large operator in Austria and Switzerland, carrying 100 million passengers per year there.

I am concerned that there are again rumours that university entry requirements should be relaxed in respect of languages and mathematics. The initials of the group concerned are TEGRUSE, although I could not find out what it actually means. Anyway, we are members of a multilingual European Union and mathematics is at the core of our wish to develop science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects.

I call on the Leader and the House to join me in wishing our great Olympian, Ronnie Delaney, a happy 80th birthday on Friday. Some 65 years ago he wrote to the provost asking whether he could train in college park. From behind those railings came a man who has been a splendid ambassador for Irish sport and for the country. I am sure, particularly with Senator Eamonn Coghlan in the House, we will all agree to wish him well and thank him for the honour he has brought to this country at all times.