Bus Éireann has agreed to temporarily suspend plans to cut part of its Dublin to Cork Expressway service following a public meeting in opposition to the plans.
The slight row-back immediately followed controversial revelations the company was to restructure a number of routes, leading to widespread criticism that non-urban areas were once again being neglected.
Rural representative organisations were indignant, stressing the importance of transport links to more isolated communities.
Minister of State for Rural Affairs Ann Phelan said she had attended a meeting in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny on Monday night where many expressed their anger at the proposed route changes which would impact on students and those attending medical appointments, among others.
"They are very real concerns that we have to deal with," Ms Phelan told an Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment on Tuesday.
“Bus Éireann last night at that public meeting agreed to leave the service in place for a period of time - June in fact - while we work with the community and while we work with the NTA and any other stakeholders that can come to this working group where we can examine in detail what are the challenges, what are the issues.
‘Breathing space’
“It’s very important that we come up with an alternative, but we needed time. Now at least we can have a breathing space where we can work.”
Bus Éireann has cited its commercial obligations as a pretext for considering such cuts.
In an initial statement, it said plans were under way to reschedule the number of stops on its Dublin to Cork route and for the removal of the Dublin to New Ross and Waterford service.
The Dublin to Waterford service would be extended to New Ross, while some public service obligation services in west Wicklow would be extended to provide connections to Dublin.
Route 40 will continue to operate from Waterford to Rosslare Europort.
However, in a statement on Tuesday night, the company said Expressway’s Dublin to Cork service will now remain in place until mid-June.
Working group
"Planned changes to the schedule are being deferred until a report is completed by a new working group within the National Transport Authority (NTA)," it said. "This will look at possible PSO (public service obligation) solutions, in terms of the areas that will be affected by changes to the route."
At the committee hearing discussing the sustained development of rural communities, Ms Phelan addressed other issues of concern including the ongoing rollout of broadband, funding for communities and policy to complement it.
There was an importance, she said, in cushioning populations from abrupt future service disruptions, whether private or public.
She said a protocol is being worked out “where a service provider [intent on removing or reducing a service] comes to talk to the community to have a conversation with the community to say this is what’s going to be happening, so that the community gets the chance to actually have a look and see is there an alternative.”
