Urban-rural 'mental divide', says Ó Cuív

There was a "massive mental divide" between what people regarded as acceptable in rural areas and what was absolutely basic in urban areas, Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív claimed.

"Whenever a proposal is made regarding rural areas, there always seems to be a better alternative. People may propose - something that we accepted as fundamental when I grew up here in Dublin - that there would be a bus in the evening in a rural area.People ask why not save the post offices or do something else. Nobody ever asks whether we can have buses in Dublin in the evening or should we do something else with the money like investing in hospitals."

Mr Ó Cuív said that in a city people needed to travel much smaller distances, as shops and pubs were nearby.

"However, if evening transport was discontinued in the city, there would be a hullaboloo. Rural areas face a much bigger problem, particularly with regard to the changes in society, because people are more scattered."

Mr Ó Cuív said his department was developing proposals to establish a pilot night-time transport scheme in rural areas. He had in mind a scheme additional to the existing rural transport programme run by the Department of Transport.

Labour spokesman Brian O'Shea referred to the absence of an adequate transport service for senior citizens in remote areas.

Mr Ó Cuív said the allocation to the rural transport programme had been doubled.