Age Action has called on the Government to fund an extension of the rural transport initiative during daylight hours to ease the isolation of older people in rural communities.
The older people's advocacy group welcomed the announcement this week by Minister for Community and Rural Affairs Eamon Ó Cuív that free and subsidised transport services are to be extended to provide an evening and night-time service in badly served areas.
The proposals were tabled in response to concerns over falling trade in rural pubs.
However, it said that older people in many parts of the country were effectively confined to their homes due to a lack of public transport during the day.
Spokesman Eamon Timmins said that where there was no bus or taxi service, older people depended on help from neighbours to make essential journeys.
"Our concern is that if you can't get out, how are you going to get out to buy a loaf of bread or a litre of milk? We welcome the initiative but we would like some of it spent on daytime services because there's a crying need for it in many parts of the country."
Mr Timmins suggested that the Government look at introducing a voucher system under which older people would be issued with voucher books that would allow them to avail of services provided by a range of transport providers, including school buses when they are not being used for schoolchildren.
The president of Macra na Feirme, Colm Markey, said the late transport would be welcome, but said the service should be provided for a range of social activities. "There's more to it than pubs," he said. "We need to look at the range of social activities. We would feel it's a larger issue.
"I think people recognise that [ the random breath-testing law] was something that was needed, but in light of that, there has to be some way of providing transport.
"You have to let people live a life. You can't be a prisoner in your own home, and it's rural people who are most affected."
Anti-drink campaigner Dr Mick Loftus has predicted the initiative will lead to greater alcohol abuse by encouraging excessive drinking. "They don't have to think about driving but they'll drink more. It will have a profound effect." He said it was because of lifestyle shifts and not just the drink-driving laws that fewer people were drinking in pubs.
