Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 127: To ask the Minister for Transport the amount of funding the Rural Transport Programme currently receives; the number of bus and other transport services the RTP supports; if he has plans to expand the scheme; if he will undertake a review of the transport needs of rural communities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3411/08]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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â'¬9 million was provided by my Department for the Rural Transport Programme (RTP) in 2007. Funding is also available to the RTP from the Department of Social and Family Affairs in respect of the Free Travel Scheme and from other sources that support the initiative.

Thirty-four community transport groups around the country are being funded under the programme and I understand from Pobal, which administers the Programme on behalf of my Department, that over 120,000 services were operated in 2007.

Pobal has commenced a process to extend the RTP on a phased basis with a goal of achieving nation-wide coverage in due course in line with Government policy following a review of the scheme in 2006.

The bottom-up approach developed during the pilot Rural Transport Initiative (2002-2006) demonstrated that local people know best what transport services they need. The RTP is building on that concept and the main drivers of community rural transport continue to be the local communities themselves.