Minister for Labour Affairs, Fianna Fáil TD Dara Calleary has welcomed the Government’s commitment to the continuation and expansion of the Rural Transport Programme in the renewed Programme for Government.
According to Minister Calleary, the Rural Transport Programme provides a valuable service for the people living in Mayo with access to a number of facilities and transport links for senior citizens and local secondary school children.
Under the renewed Programme for Government, the Government has made a commitment to the programme.
“The Government has made a commitment to explore the provision of a full-scale transport system in rural areas using the network expertise of Bus Éireann, the physical infrastructure and personal resources of the school transport system, and the financial resources currently being spent on transport by the HSE and the Department of Education and Science,” Minister Calleary said.
“This is a clear commitment from Government to the continuation and expansion of this valuable scheme.
“A number of very successful services are provided under the scheme in Mayo with considerable input from local people and local communities. The services are a very good example of how active citizenship can make a great difference to people’s standard of living in our communities and a great deal of work has gone into establishing the services.
“There may be room for more efficient spending in the scheme, with a more coordinated approach to providing routes or other such measures, but this can be worked out with co-operation from local groups.
“I was delighted to see that the Government’s commitment to the scheme was reconfirmed within the new Programme for Government,” Minister Calleary concluded.
