Fine Gael councillor Marie Murphy in Clogheen, has welcomed news that that the bus service through Ardfinnan, Clogheen and Ballyporeen is now secure after almost one year of uncertainty. She informed The Avondhu that there has been strong public concern locally about the likely impact of any reduced services in the area and that any changes would have been another devastating blow to rural services.

“Planned changes to the schedule were deferred in early 2015 until a report was completed by the working group set up by the National Transport Authority (NTA). This working group was formed by the NTA to look at possible Public Service Obligation (PSO) solutions, in terms of the areas that would have been affected by changes to the route.”

According to Cllr Murphy, the National Transport Authority (NTA) has a key role to play in assessing the impact on rural areas and responding appropriately, within available funding, to the changes taking place.

“A revised route ‘7’ will come into operation on June 28th, 2015 which will give enhanced services to the area and this will be welcome news to the many elderly people, students and service users in the Ardfinnan, Clogheen and Ballyporeen area who relied on the Expressway Route 007 bus as their only mode of transport,” Cllr Murphy concluded.