The proposed cutbacks in the Transport sector proposed in the McCarthy Report would have a shattering effect on public transport services across Ireland.

The most alarming measures proposed include plans to sell off the most profitable elements of Bus Eireann, the abolition of all Rural Transport programmes, a further reduction in funding for CIE by €55 million, the ending of the Western Rail Corridor project, the slashing of rail routes such as Limerick Junction to Rosslare, Limerick to Ballybrophy and Manulla Junction to Ballina, the ending of the Public Service Obligation grants for regional airports and a €20 million reduction in funding for road maintenance. Colm McCarthy and his colleagues have also suggested the introduction of road pricing and significant increases for the cost of driver testing and licensing.

There may be some merit in one or two of the McCarthy proposals on streamlining the transport administrative structure including merging the National Vehicle Driver File into the Road Safety Authority. But proposals such as merging the Rail Procurement Agency and the National Roads Authority given the very different business of each agency raise huge question marks.

However, the core cutbacks proposed in the McCarthy Report would have a profoundly damaging effect on vital public transport services especially in rural communities. These proposals are completely at odds with the long-standing government policy to achieve a modal shift from cars to public transport. Cutbacks of this magnitude to public transport services and infrastructure will also have a very negative impact on the economy when it begins to move out of the current economic recession. Nowhere in the two volumes of the report is there a Cost/Benefit Analysis of the impact of these public transport cuts on the environment and future carbon emissions policy.