A bus service set up four years ago to tackle rural isolation will be made permanent in annual Government spending plans, the Minister for Transport said in Kerry yesterday.
Begun as a three-year pilot in areas that lacked public transport, there are now some 34 projects under the Rural Transport Initiative (RTI).
They serve rural areas from Clare to Wicklow, and there is also a scheme in Dublin run by the North Fingal Rural Transport Company.
Kerry Community Transport with 67 separate routes operates the biggest RTI in the country. It serves 85 towns and villages.
The scheme was set up on foot of a White Paper on rural needs and was extended last year for two years, after widespread concern that it was going to end.
The uncertainty at one stage led to a campaign by pensioners in Knocknagoshel and Sliabh Luachra to save their service, the Kerry Flyer.
Some 500,000 RTI passenger trips were recorded in 2004, Mr Cullen said yesterday.
Many who use the service in Kerry are elderly, and most are women. It is free to travel-card holders.
Mr Cullen said yesterday that being able to travel to their local town had transformed people's lives. It had given them a social outlet, security, "and an ease within themselves".
The Minister said he had noticed this yesterday during his journey on the Kerry Flyer service between Castleisland and Killarney.
"RTI makes a daily difference to the lives of thousands and deserves to be put on a permanent financial footing," he said.
Additional funding of €1 million is being made available for this year's scheme, bringing the amount spent to €4.5 million. A further €5 million will be provided next year.
The Minister will consult with various representative bodies including groups representing older people and people with mobility and sensory impairments in formulating future strategy and plans to make the scheme permanent from 2006.
Irish Rural Link, the national lobby group for rural development, welcomed the increase in funding, but called for the setting up of a national rural transport office and an expansion of the services.
"These transport services are simply vital in rural areas. They help the most vulnerable in our society, like the senior citizens, people with a disability, children and mothers to do simple tasks such as get the shopping or go to a hospital appointment," said Séamus Boland, the group's chief executive. In a recent survey of RTI users, 46 per cent said they did not have access to a car.
The Minister was in Kerry to open officially the N21 Ballycarty-Tralee road improvement scheme.
The 3km scheme was upgraded at a cost of €13.2 million and completes the link between Tralee and Castleisland.
The road is part of the corridor between Tralee and Killarney being upgraded and is used by 9,000 vehicles every day.