Bus Éireann plans to cut services to Dublin, New Ross and Waterford

Planned cuts to some of Bus Éireann’s rural routes have been condemned by farm groups and organisations of rural and older people.

The national bus service has confirmed that a number of services on its commercial Expressway network are under review. A spokeswoman said the company planned to change the number of stops on the Dublin to Cork route.

It also plans to remove Route 5, between Dublin, New Ross and Waterford.

Route 4 between Dublin and Waterford is being extended to New Ross, while Bus Éireann is also extending some public service obligation services in west Wicklow to provide connections to Dublin.

Route 40 will continue to operate from Waterford to Rosslare Europort.

It has also been reported that a third route between Athlone and Westport is under threat, although Bus Éireann did not comment on this. These services do not get a State subsidy.

“Some of the routes on our Expressway network are incurring significant losses and are unsustainable in an increasingly competitive environment, for the business,” a spokeswoman said.

Bus Éireann is having discussions with the National Transport Authority to assess the service requirement in those locations.

Quoted in one report, Bus Éireann chief executive Martin Nolan said if the Government wanted smaller towns and villages on commercial routes to be serviced, it would have to provide a subsidy.

‘Further attack’

Billy Gray, rural development chairman of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association, said the proposed cuts represented "a further attack on rural Ireland" as they would disproportionately affect country dwellers.

“On top of bank, post office and Garda station closures, they constitute a further attack on rural Irish society,” he said.

Mr Gray said older people would be particularly affected, as would college students. “Many farming families, already under pressure due to low incomes, will be forced to sacrifice valuable working time in order to transport their children to the next town with a bus service.”

Active Retirement Ireland spokesman Peter Kavanagh said many of its groups relied wholly on public transport in rural areas. "These meetings play a vital role to keep people socially connected and to combat loneliness and isolation," he said. " An even more serious concern is access to medical services if there is not adequate public transport.

“The Government needs to realise that if increased loneliness and isolation leads to older people needing long-term residential care, then the cost to the State will be far higher in the long run.”

Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association president John Comer said resentment was building rapidly in rural areas at "the relentless and intensive stripping-out of services" that had taken several decades to put in place.

He said it now seemed that rural populations were expected to sit quietly and simply accept the disappearance of their State transport facilities in the same way as their schools, post offices, Garda stations and district departmental and veterinary offices had already disappeared.

Meanwhile, IFA deputy president Tim O'Leary said the Minister with responsibility for rural affairs must intervene immediately.

“Minister Ann Phelan’s commitment to rural-proof all actions by State bodies and Government departments is vital to ensure that critical services such as transport are maintained in rural Ireland,” he said.