-----because we have expanded so much in such a short space of time.

Over the past few months, the Minister for Transport has been making one bizarre announcement after another. The first was that Irish people should grow salad on south-facing windowsills to ensure food supplies during Covid-19. The second was to tell drivers to slow down on the motorway to save fuel. The third was to have one car in the village to which people from rural communities should cycle and use to go to work. The fourth was to stop people from burning turf and he will not arrest grannies if they do so.

All these weird announcements are, one way or another, being supported by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. It is making the country a laughing stock throughout the world. Another damaging announcement made by the Minister for Transport recently was the 20% cut in public transport fares, as well as the proposed 50% cut in fares for students and young people availing of those services. One would say this should be welcome. If it goes ahead, however, it will have a disastrous effect in rural communities, as no local commercial operator can avail of the 20% or 50% reductions. I raised this in the Dáil with the Minister as soon as he announced the 20% decrease in early April, but he still railroaded ahead with it, wiping every private operator off this decrease, leaving many of those with struggling businesses asking if they can survive.

The local commercial or private operators, as we all know, were still reeling from that shock when the Minister announced in the last fortnight that he is railroading ahead with a 50% decrease in fares for students and young people. Again, this is to be welcomed. Again he has nothing put in place for private operators to pass this decrease on to the students mainly in rural Ireland. He said that technical and funding issues were preventing him. This 50% decrease will benefit those who travel on Bus Éireann, the Luas, trains, the DART and Dublin Bus. These are all Dublin city-type transport, which I do not want to begrudge.

There are private operators, such as West Cork Connects which carries 80% of the passengers on west Cork routes, has buses leaving Skibbereen and Bantry every hour on the hour every day passing through Clonakilty and Bandon to Cork on one side and from Dunmanway, Ballineen and Innishannon and to Cork on the other. This service has opened up west Cork. This local commercial operator is employing many staff in west Cork, but it is not allowed to pass on the recent 20% decrease, or the proposed 50% decrease, to west Cork students. This is not just putting that operator's business in jeopardy, but also that of Wexford Bus, Cobh Connect, Aircoach, GoBus and Citylink. All these operators, and many more, are facing the same wipe out. This is another gaffe by the Minister.

On top of this direct hit to the young people of rural communities who depend on private operators to connect their communities, can the Taoiseach tell me why his Government wants to wipe out private operators? Unlike Bus Éireann, the Luas, Dublin Bus, the DART and the train, these private operators have to pay their own staff, fuel and daily wear-and-tear on vehicles. Instead of encouraging these operators, in the context of the so-called Connecting Ireland dream, the Government is going to disconnect transport completely in rural Ireland. Why was what should have been such a positive announcement by this anti-rural Government not held off until everyone, rural and urban, could avail of this decrease?

This Government’s decision will see private bus companies being forced out of business by State-backed cuts and leave them contemplating taking legal action. Not only is this unfair, but it is anti-competitive as well. Seeing as the Minister for Transport cannot get this right, will the Taoiseach step in and treat everyone in rural and urban Ireland the same when it comes to this decrease in fares for our youth?

I thank the Deputy for raising a range of issues. I did not quite catch the first couple. By the way, salads are good for you.

Is it all right for the pig farmers?

I do not think it is weird to enjoy a salad. I also do not think it is weird to cycle, for that matter. We need a sense of perspective and a bit of calm too.

Deputy Michael Collins welcomed, I think, the reduction in transport fares we have announced and now brought in - in the context of the cost of living - for public transport and for young people. It is very important that we reduce public transport fares, and the Minister for Transport can do that readily within the legal frameworks. It is not as easy with the private transport issue. We will continue to look at that to see how we can be supportive. The Government was very supportive of all the transport network during Covid-19 pandemic, for example. Perhaps the Deputy might also like to acknowledge that. I refer to public and private enterprises, in transport and elsewhere. The Government therefore does not have any position that is anti private transport as suggested by the Deputy.

Also, across a broad swathe of policies, the Government is very pro-rural Ireland. The Government has invested hugely in rural Ireland across the board and we will continue to do so in a whole range of ways. The Brexit adjustment reserve fund, for example, is being worked on by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, along with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, with a view to ensuring significant funding goes to the parts of rural Ireland impacted by Brexit, for example, and by challenges with the fishing industry. We have been very strong in respect of agriculture and rural development. The Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys, has been very strong regarding community hubs throughout rural Ireland. There have been substantial investments. I refer to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the various funding for towns across rural Ireland in the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, in conjunction with and complementing the work of the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys.

If you go through any Department, very significant allocations have been made for rural Ireland. We want to rebalance the economic development of this country. We believe there is an over-concentration and we have to rebalance that into the future. We want to develop strong regional cities like Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway that will then strengthen the rural hinterlands of those cities. Public transport is all over west Cork as well. It does not have the same frequency but it is in most towns in west Cork and is complemented by private transport. School transport is a State-funded scheme but it is predominantly provided by private operators. The Deputy should know that. That is just the way it has always worked in terms of CIÉ outsourcing to private transport operators.

In respect of the specific issue the Deputy raised, the Minister will continue to look to see what he can do to support private operators. We should not stop implementing a good policy in reducing fares for young people in particular. I think it is a very good idea.

I thank the Taoiseach for his answer but I do not think he quite grasps what the question was all about. He spent about two minutes talking about fishing and farming. Good God, he should come down to west Cork and talk to the fishermen and farmers. He will not be long there; he will be run out of it quickly.

The Taoiseach has to be straight with the public here. Outside of Dublin the local commercial bus operators are the biggest operators in the country, carrying out 30 million passenger trips yearly, mainly in rural Ireland. In a recent meeting with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, the private operators asked straight up why they were not included in the 20% bus decrease for young people on their buses. They were told it was for financial reasons that the Minister could not go ahead with it. To the whole country's astonishment, a few weeks later, he announces a 50% decrease, again excluding young people in rural Ireland. Where did this Minister find the money that he did not have a few weeks earlier? Was it carbon tax money robbed from the hard-working people of rural Ireland? The local commercial operators are convinced this Minister wants to wipe them out of business and basically get rid of them. One of them asked me why he does not just come out and be honest about it and not drip-feed, destroying their business day by day. Can the Taoiseach tell me today that this is not a fact? What is the exact date that local commercial bus operators will be allowed to pass on the same decrease allowed for all Dublin city travellers to students in rural communities?

Nobody wants to wipe anybody out.

That is what the Government is doing. What about the post offices?

The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, does not want to wipe anybody out for that matter or any private transport operator. They will not be wiped out either. The fullness of time will show that. The Deputy was up in this House advocating for measures to reduce the cost of living. In the budget I thought it was a very imaginative and good move to reduce fares on public transport for young people. To me that is an excellent decision.

Is it for all of Ireland?

We should be doing more of that into the future. It is the way to go.

It should be in the country, not just the capital.

There is public transport all over the country.

The Taoiseach cannot grasp it; we do not have public transport in most rural communities.

Sorry, there is public transport in rural communities.

Where do we have it? When do we have it? I can name plenty of places in west Cork that do not have it. We have private operators and they are willing to do this but the Government is wiping them out. It is sitting on its hands.

The private transport operator is very important in rural Ireland but there is also public transport and the Deputy should not pretend there is not. It is not just Dublin, either, and the Deputy knows that too. Rural Ireland has Local Link and a whole range of initiatives that the Minister has supported and put funding into.

Has the Taoiseach travelled to those towns and villages? Can he name them?

I can because I went on public buses to west Cork.

Can he name all the towns and villages? Has he forgotten Cork?

I can name all of them - Clonakilty, Bandon and the whole way down. It is for the whole country and the Deputy knows it well.

Was the Taoiseach burning turf in Courtmacsherry?

I did.

That thankfully concludes Leaders' Questions.