Cull of vital transport links a retrograde step for rural Ireland
Fianna Fáil councillor and Cathoirleach of the Bailieborough –Cootehill Municipal district, Cllr Niamh Smyth has described plans to slash up to 100 rural bus routes as ‘an alarming step backwards for rural Ireland’. Cllr Smyth stated that the loss of this vital service and transport links to Dublin will leave many elderly people in rural communities even more isolated.
“There have been too many cuts in vital services for many rural communities already across the country. An attempt to leave communities without any public transport links to the capital must be avoided. We must consider that not everybody can drive, people need to get to hospital appointments in the capital, shopping trips, concerts and much more” said Cllr Smyth.
Successive governments have spent decades investing in easing the rural/urban divide. Bus Éireann has played an important role in this by providing rural communities with regular access to our towns and cities. Axing these routes will be a major step backwards at a time when many people living in rural communities now have to travel for access to vital services, having lost so many of their own local services due to this government’s cuts.
This has to be about more than just budgets. Bus Éireann is funded by the taxpayer and it has a public responsibility to serve all communities across the country. Cllr Smyth is calling on the Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe to immediately engage with Bus Éireann before any of these services are cut.”
24 February 2015
Cllr Niamh Smyth, Adelaide, Row, Bailieborough, Co. Cavan
t: 042 966 66 66 m: 087 998 22 22 e: nsmyth@cavancoco.ie