An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Dail Éireann — 2023-10-03
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Marian Harkin (IND), Sligo-Leitrim

Today is the last day of the operation of the Leitrim community car scheme. It is run by the Leitrim Volunteer Centre out of Carrick-on-Shannon. It has more than 35 volunteer drivers and has transported 533 people in 14 months, 90% of them to hospital appointments in Sligo, Galway, etc. I raised this issue many times with the previous Taoiseach, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the HSE but there has been no progress. All this group needs is €20,000 to run the scheme for one year. A round-trip taxi fare to the hospital in Sligo from Carrick-on-Shannon costs €210. The 533 trips made by the community car scheme would have cost €111,000 at the same rate, yet €20,000 cannot be found to fund this scheme. It is finishing today. I ask the Government to either fund the current scheme or immediately put in place a pilot community car scheme, similar to the one run by Fingal County Council in partnership with Local Link and GoCar. I ask the Taoiseach not to leave people in County Leitrim stranded without transport.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-10-03/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:13+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-10-03