Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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644. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the proposals his Department is working on in conjunction with the NTA and the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to deliver on action points 250 to 254 of the Action Plan for Rural Development to work with rural communities to assess and implement improvements to existing rural transport routes and develop new rural transport routes as necessary; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19860/17]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I refer the Deputy to my replies to her previous Questions (Reference No. 4108/17 answered on 31 January 2017 and Reference No.11706/17 answered on 07 March 2017) on this matter.

As I advised the Deputy in those replies, responsibility for the implementation of action No. 250 of the Action Plan for Rural Development is matter for the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, in conjunction with local authorities.

The review of public transport policy, including the rural transport dimension to ensure it meets the needs of rural communities, is listed under action No. 251 of the Action Plan. To advance this commitment, the Deputy might be aware that I recently announced my intention to establish a Stakeholder Dialogue on the issue of Public Transport. My Department is currently scoping out the proposed approach to the work and the full Review will then take place as soon as possible.

As I also advised the Deputy previously, action Nos. 252 to 254 of the Action Plan fall to the National Transport Authority (NTA) to implement, given its responsibility to manage the Rural Transport Programme and I have referred this aspect of your question to the NTA for direct reply.

Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within 10 working days.