Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 196: To ask the Minister for Transport the extent to which he can facilitate travel facilities for the elderly in rural communities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37228/05]

James Breen (Clare, Independent)
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Question 198: To ask the Minister for Transport if funding will be provided in the 2006 rural transport initiative to provide transport from west Clare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37037/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 198 and 196 together.

The provision of transport services for older people in rural areas is a core feature of the rural transport initiative, RTI, which has been operated by my Department on a pilot basis since 2002. All 34 RTI pilot projects throughout the country provide transport services for older people as part of their public transport remit. Indeed, the RTI arose as a response to the needs of specific categories of people in rural Ireland, such as older people, who did not have access to transport.

Area Development Management Limited, ADM, administers the initiative on behalf of my Department and makes specific allocations to individual project groups from funding provided by my Department. Neither I nor my Department has any role in the specific allocations. Similarly, ADM together with the individual RTI project groups are solely responsible for all the operational aspects of the initiative, including the specific services to be provided. Neither I nor my Department has any role in these matters.

Earlier this year I announced the extension of the pilot phase of the initiative to the end of 2006. In this regard, I was taking account of the principal recommendation of the appraisal of the RTI, carried out in 2004. I also announced that from 2007 onwards I intend to put the scheme on a permanent footing.

I will be providing some €5 million for the initiative in 2006 and I have already announced that, in parallel with the implementation of Transport 21, I will double the cash funding available to the scheme by 2007. Thereafter, I will steadily increase the funding available for rural transport services; ultimately to a cash level about four times what it is this year.