Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)

I will follow on from something Senator Kennelly touched on. I read in my local paper, The Anglo-Celt, a story about a man fined for giving people lifts home in a rural part of County Monaghan. He was brought to court for it. Two undercover guards took a lift with him. Is this really the biggest issue facing us? The real crime is the desolation of our rural areas. Two pubs are closing for good each week in this country. In many parishes, particularly the very rural parish I come from in County Cavan, the social life is the local pub and the social scene is a huge part of the community. Those pubs are closing because of the lack of availability of transport for people, particularly older people who would like to take a drink but cannot drive.

As a result of that, I tried to help a man interested in taking part in the local area hackney pilot scheme. The scheme is strangled by restrictions. There was huge difficulty in qualifying, the operational zone was tiny and there was limited financial support. In the end, we did not meet the criteria so could not apply. I have looked into that scheme since and found that only two people were successful. If the Government is really interested in supporting rural communities with schemes, it should make them accessible and not overly bureaucratic. The scheme is being reviewed and we are still waiting for the review. I ask the Minister to review the scheme and come in here for statements on it.