The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs is in talks with the Department of Transport to establish a pilot night-time transport scheme for rural areas.
Speaking at the National Rural Development Forum in Athenry, Co Galway, this morning, Éamon Ó Cuív said: "There have been a stream of articles and reports that I was going to set up a fleet of booze buses to ferry drunks to and from the pub and up and down every highway, byway and laneway of rural Ireland.
"What I am actually proposing is a night-time rural transport system, to tackle rural social isolation, which would be community-led and provide transport to social gatherings, bingo, mass, youth clubs etc - and amongst those would be transport to the pub," he added.
Mr Ó Cuív said the proposed new transport scheme will be additional to the existing Rural Transport Programme (RTP), run by the Department of Transport, and that a small number of areas will be selected to run it, over a 12-month pilot period.
The location of the pilot schemes is still being considered, as is the question of funding for the scheme in 2007.
The Minister said discusssions were continuing between the two departments and the non-profit organisation Pobal, which administers the RTP for the Department of Transport, and that he hoped to make an announcement in the coming weeks.
He urged people living in rural areas to to use their vote "so that the voice of rural people can be clearly heard".
He added: "Vote for whatever party you believe is doing the most for rural development, but make sure you let the politicians who come knocking on your doors over the next few months know that rural development is a priority issue."