Rural transport still needs work – Ross

TRANSPORT Minister Shane Ross has defended the hike in carbon tax while admitting that there are ‘deficiencies’ when it comes to rural public transport.

Mr Ross insisted that ‘a fair amount’ was being done for rural transport amid criticism the carbon tax rise would unfairly impact rural commuters who have little or no public transport.

Following the announced €6 annual rise in the carbon tax, the AA said it expected the increase would add 2cent to a litre of petrol or diesel.

Mr Ross pointed to investment in rural taxi projects and Local Link, which provides rural bus services across Ireland.

‘I think we’ve done a fair amount for rural transport. There’s been a substantial increase in funding for Local Link in recent times, going from €12.2million in 2016 to €21million this year,’ he said.

‘This has enabled the introduction of new and regular commuter services and improvements to our demand-responsive services.

‘Last year, we introduced 66 additional Local Link services and routes, a lot of them were at night time, and I think 64 of them were retained which is a fair number.’

The minister added that he was ‘very conscious of the fact that in rural Ireland there are deficiencies in public transport’. He said: ‘In Dublin they have a very, very good service which in rural Ireland they don’t have.

‘We are making huge efforts to accommodate them – we made those 66 routes, we improved funding in Local Link and we’re going to continue with these two new projects.

‘We’re determined not to let rural Ireland in any way suffer.

‘It’s our philosophy that those who are not so lucky as the people in Dublin, that they should be accommodated and every case should be looked at very carefully.’

His comments come after Environment Minister Richard Bruton urged people to make the change to electric vehicles.

When asked yesterday what commuters should do if they rely on their cars to travel to work and cannot afford the costly electric vehicles, Mr Bruton said: ‘What we’re doing here is a gradual increase in the price of fossil fuel because of the damage it does.

‘It will represent a 1.4% increase, roughly speaking, in the price of diesel, so it is relatively manageable,’ he said.

‘But at the same time, we are offering these opportunities for people to make the change.’

Carbon tax currently stands at €20 per tonne and is set to rise by €6 every year until it reaches €80 per tonne by 2030.