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‘ANTI-RURAL, ILL-THOUGHT out and a PR stunt’ – that’s how Michael Healy-Rae has described the new rural bus service scheme.
Transport Minister Shane Ross has announced that 50 new bus routes will combat rural isolation and that they should not be seen solely as buses home for drinkers.
“It’s for communities to get together, go off and play bingo, if they want to go to the pub they can. It’s not all pub-orientated.”
The local link bus scheme, which will start in June, is going to run from 6pm to 11pm in a pilot project across 50 routes in 19 counties.
However Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae has hit out at the pilot project on RTÉ’s Prime Time, saying:
“It’s a publicity stunt by the Minister and his department and the government.”
Healy-Rae added, “The system that was there was good enough, there’s no need for this to be brought in.”
Currently, anyone with a full licence caught driving with an alcohol level between 50mg and 80mg can receive three penalty points on their licence and a €200 fine.
Ross is trying to pass a Road Traffic Bill that would see an automatic disqualification for drivers on their first offence of driving while over the permitted 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood
A number of rural TDs have opposed the bill, saying it would damage rural areas, but Ross accused those TDs of behaving “like road traffic terrorists”.
When Ross said Healy-Rae was filibustering the Bill, the Kerry TD said, “I completely refute that and I won’t stop talking until the people who elect me tell me to stop.”
‘A load of nonsense’
Healy-Rae also criticised the amount being spent of the service saying, “It’s not enough for one county, let alone the whole country.”
Some €10,000 per route will be spent on the 50 initial routes.
The buses are a load of nonsense, half a million for all of the counties – between now and midnight that will be spent on buses in Dublin tonight.
Minister Ross said the rural bus service was a very serious effort to tackle the problem of rural isolation. “This will go ahead whatever the fate of the drink driving bill,” he said.
“We decided we would address this problem … this is certainly not a PR stunt”
The project will run across 50 routes in 19 counties, including Kildare, Kerry, Cork, Laois, Offaly, Donegal, Waterford, Wexford, Cavan and Monaghan.
However the Minister added that “it was offered to every country, six of them didn’t take it up”.
Ross added that after six months the National Transport Authority will review every single route, adding that the benchmark for success will be left up to them.
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I’m honestly shocked that this is not a matter of practice already, and that it had to be fought for.
Imagine the heartbreak of losing your partner in childbirth and being told you weren’t automatically entitled to a inquest?
@Abbie Cranky: I am not shocked at all to be honest, this is the country we live in, we vote for corrupt parties and we get a corrupt system because of this its very simple.
@Peter Hughes:
Fine Gael increasing their percentage of the vote despite the many health scandals happening on their watch.
One could easily despair of the myopia of the electorate if one was so inclined.
@Jimmy Coltrane: They’re not really though.Its all “within margin of error” stuff and when broken down doesn’t mean they’d be returned to government. If it did we’d have an election next September..
Shocking that it isn’t already the rule, I guess it’s part of the old Ireland, at least we do make some progress in some areas.
Well done to Claire Daly, it’s excellent legislation and well done to her for proposing it and for persisting with it for 3 years since 2015. Some people are quick to criticize her but she does excellent work and doesn’t deserve the grief some people give her. You might not always agree with her politics but you cannot argue with her work rate and she is the exception in a bunch of lazy and incompetent ministers.
Just waiting to see which Total Dichs oppose this.
@Ixtrix Net: Mattie McGrath step on down…
@Ixtrix Net: The new rules requiring the prompt treatment of sepsis will prevent a case like Savita’s happening ever again.
@Tom Molloy: Removing a septic foetus would have helped.
@Tom Molloy:
that’s a good thing, but, some thing should be pro-active, not , retro-active
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu: Savita lived for three days after the spontaneous miscarriage. No medic has said that an abortion would have made any difference to the out of control sepsis. Sepsis causes multiple organ failure, removing any one would not “cure” the sepsis nor would the removal of the fetus.
@Tom Molloy: Well Tom, thats just not true. A former Master of Holles St, a man at the top of his field said that early intervention, in this case abortion, would likely have prevented sepsis.
Can we stick to the truth please?
8 women all died by medical negligence yet only one name will stand out for most . Shameful.
@Siobhán Ni Mhurchú: No, they died because they were prevented from accessing abortion here at home.
How many can you name?
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu: Great to hear there are no sepsis related maternal deaths in the UK where abortion has been legal for years…..oh wait…
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu: did you even read the article?
I wonder where would women’s voices be heard without @ClareDalyTD?
What if the family don’t want the death reported. This is often the case in suicide or OD.
Clare Daly is a beacon in a sea of …. (express exasperation here)
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: suicide and OD would always be reported. This is about death during or shortly after childbirth.
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