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Rural Ireland getting a "Drink-Link".... lucky feckers!

  • 08-05-2018 2:37pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 3,494 ✭✭✭Beta Ray Bill


    I laughed and laughed when I read this today!

    https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/drink-link-buses-to-service-50-rural-communities-841535.html

    Looks like the Healy-Raes have done it again.
    The guise of a fool seems to work REALLY well for Danny Healy-Rae.

    They managed to get their constituents a shuttle bus to and from the Pub at a cost of €450,000 to the tax payer. (pilot scheme only mind you, in 50 communities )

    They must be the best politicians in the country, constituents love them, non-constituents hate them.

    I'd LOVE a drink link to the local boozer. It's a 20 min walk to the local cruiser for me (Raheny, Dublin)
    I know there is a Nite Link service from Dublin City centre out to the suburbs, but it's not the same. I want to be picked up from the Pub at at 11pm and dropped to my front door without having to pay a Taxi man!!!! :mad:

    This is the best bit:
    Critics of the service say its timing deliberately coincides with strict new drink driving laws putting first time offenders off the road.

    Minister Ross says it is just a coincidence.

    Squeaky wheel gets the oil and all that! :D :rolleyes:


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Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,277 ✭✭✭Your Face


    Are you paying the full 450000 yourself?


  • Registered Users Posts: 28,378 ✭✭✭✭murpho999


    Improved public transport for rural communities with added benefit of reducing drink driving that may save lives.

    What is there to complain about?

    €450k is nothing really.


  • Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    grahambo wrote: »
    I laughed and laughed when I read this today!

    https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/drink-link-buses-to-service-50-rural-communities-841535.html

    Looks like the Healy-Raes have done it again.
    The guise of a fool seems to work REALLY well for Danny Healy-Rae.

    They managed to get their constituents a shuttle bus to and from the Pub at a cost of €450,000 to the tax payer. (pilot scheme only mind you, in 50 communities )

    They must be the best politicians in the country, constituents love them, non-constituents hate them.

    I did NOT love them when I was in their ,,, territory.... believe me on that. But as soon as I reed that headline today I knew who did it..

    Danny used to drive past my market stall, wearing huge bright red ear protectors. I waved to him once; his mouth dropped open and I thought he was going to drive into the wall


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,950 ✭✭✭ChikiChiki


    Rural Ireland needs this pilot scheme to work and as a 100% city person I do not begrudge it one bit, both from a social aspect and keeping businesses afloat. Such a scheme will be value for money.

    The social aspect is the most important. Rural communities can be a lonely, desolate place especially for people living on their own.


  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 9,453 Mod ✭✭✭✭Shenshen


    If it finally stops the Healy-Raes from blocking life-saving road safety regulations for the entire country, it's a small enough price to pay.


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  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 194 ✭✭Mackerel and Avocado Sandwich


    There’s a taxi rank right outside the Raheny Inn you lazy get


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ Jaelyn Lively Spirits


    I'd never use it. Travelling all over the area with a busload of drunks before getting to my house is my vision of hell. I don't begrudge it. Urban areas benefit from heavily subsidised transport, so a few minibus routes in rural areas is not exorbitant. I remain unconvinced that many will actually use it though. Time will tell.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,488 ✭✭✭Working class heroes


    There’s a taxi rank right outside the Raheny Inn you lazy get

    Free taxis eh?

    Racism is now hiding behind the cloak of Community activism.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,075 ✭✭✭JMNolan


    I didn't think we cared about cost once it saved lives from drink drivers? Right? That's what it's always been about, saving lives regardless of the cost? So €450k is simply the cost of saving lives.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,494 ✭✭✭Beta Ray Bill


    There’s a taxi rank right outside the Raheny Inn you lazy get

    Yes, but I don't want to pay a tenner!!!!!!!
    What are you not getting here!!?? :pac::pac::pac:
    Your Face wrote: »
    Are you paying the full 450000 yourself?

    Few cents probably yeah!
    As will most other people that work :D

    It's not biggy really

    I just think it's funny that Deputy Ross said it was "a coincidence".
    He's so full of sh*t
    When he's not objecting to all planning permission with a 5 miles radius of Stepaside, he's either ignoring Public transport issues outside of his constituency or blowing a load of hot air!


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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,719 ✭✭✭pawrick


    When I heard it announced I thought what a joke, then i checked to see if it would be in my area, alas no. Looks like I'll have to stick to getting a taxi home at night the rare time I can afford to go out.

    I cant see many people wanting to get the last bus home at 11 though down the local and I'd say the insurance will be shocking given the target audience.


  • Registered Users Posts: 81,114 ✭✭✭✭Overheal


    Brilliant.

    Some people are just like “ah we don’t need abortion just solve the drink problem in Ireland and the sluts will stop spreading their legs” and then you get this.

    I can’t.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 695 ✭✭✭beefburrito


    In all fairness there's pubs all over Dublin.

    If you're having to walk 6 miles for a pint without street lights and wobble 6 miles home it's no joke.

    A lot of the best pubs in rural Ireland are only open a few days a week now.

    I haven't drank in 15 years but I wouldn't begrudge any one a pint or two or a good piss up and get home safely.


  • Registered Users Posts: 38,247 ✭✭✭✭Guy:Incognito


    They could use the money to show people that there's more to life than the pub


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,431 ✭✭✭sideswipe


    There’s a smell of elections in the air....


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,277 ✭✭✭Your Face


    They could use the money to show people that there's more to life than the pub

    That's a lot of money to spend in a brothel.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,453 ✭✭✭valoren


    How come nobody was enterprising and started to offer this service for a fee?

    Obviously there was a business opportunity there to drive people to the back of beyonds.

    Business Plan:


    Get a loan for a minibus. Something like this.
    https://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/ford/transit-minibus/used-2016-161-ford-transit-minibus-46-limerick-fpa-1305195957788313953?SOURCE_ID=SOURCE_ID_FPA_FROM_FEAT_LIST

    It's a 17 seater, so you'll work say 5 nights a week.
    You charge €15 a head to drop people home. That's 255 for one full occupancy run.
    You do 2 runs a night. So you make 510 for one evenings work.
    At a low occupancy of half volume, you still make 255 for one nights work.

    One year income is gross 132k at full capacity. Half that for low end, so 66k.

    If successful, you go to the Bank and have them 'backing brave' to finance a fleet of mini buses, you hire drivers, you create jobs and you make money.

    But instead, we do all of the above but get the government to pay for it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 16,621 ✭✭✭✭BPKS


    grahambo wrote: »
    I laughed and laughed when I read this today!

    https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/drink-link-buses-to-service-50-rural-communities-841535.html

    Looks like the Healy-Raes have done it again.
    The guise of a fool seems to work REALLY well for Danny Healy-Rae.

    They managed to get their constituents a shuttle bus to and from the Pub at a cost of €450,000 to the tax payer. (pilot scheme only mind you, in 50 communities )

    They must be the best politicians in the country, constituents love them, non-constituents hate them.

    I'd LOVE a drink link to the local boozer. It's a 20 min walk to the local cruiser for me (Raheny, Dublin)
    I know there is a Nite Link service from Dublin City centre out to the suburbs, but it's not the same. I want to be picked up from the Pub at at 11pm and dropped to my front door without having to pay a Taxi man!!!! :mad:

    This is the best bit:


    Squeaky wheel gets the oil and all that! :D :rolleyes:


    A little project for you.

    Look at the names of the locations in Kerry that will get a route (one day per week BTW) and put the name of the village into google maps.

    Just look at the tiny areas of the county that are covered by this scheme.

    Its all just a PR stunt by Ross. Optics with absolutely no substance to it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 29,294 ✭✭✭✭Mint Sauce


    Dub, has public transport on his doorstep, and complants when the rest of the country gets it!

    :p

    In fairness though, even where this service might be provided, I cant see it driving around every single homestead.

    If I want to go out in the home place, the village pub is a 45 minute walk away, and its a taxi home to my door, for about €5-6, which the landlord will call for me. The local town is a 15 minute drive, I have sat on with the taxi bus on a Saturday night/Sunday morning, going around house after house, till he gets to mine, yes it might only be a fiver, compared to a taxi on your own for about €20, but its not pleasent. Cant see Ross' bus doing the same service.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 194 ✭✭Mackerel and Avocado Sandwich


    grahambo wrote: »
    Yes, but I don't want to pay a tenner!!!!!!!
    What are you not getting here!!?? :pac::pac::pac:

    Look at the end of the day they're still living in some backwards kip in the middle of nowhere, I wouldn't take all the free booze buses in the world to have to endure that


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  • Posts: 17,381 Haylee Shy Triathlon


    It's a pity people don't understand how money like that gets spent.


    New bus needed by the bus company so import duties on the vehicle.
    Tax and registration.
    Money spent on petrol is taxed.
    The petrol station makes money.
    The bus company makes money.
    The bus driver pays tax.
    The mechanics get more business and they pay tax.
    Pubs take in money and pay tax.
    The pub owner, the bus driver and the mechanic meet the tyre guy and have beers. Pay tax.
    etc.


    There isn't some well where this money just get thrown into and forgotten about.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,494 ✭✭✭Beta Ray Bill


    BPKS wrote: »
    A little project for you.

    Look at the names of the locations in Kerry that will get a route (one day per week BTW) and put the name of the village into google maps.

    I don't have time to do that....
    Not with all the complaining about rural Ireland I have to do.
    Mint Sauce wrote: »
    Dub, has public transport on his doorstep, and complants when the rest of the country gets it!

    :p

    Major cities should have the best public transport. There is a large number of people in close proximity of one another to make it viable

    Some Lad that lives 10 miles away from the nearest shop and it sitting on 50+ Acres of land should have none.

    And to add to that, DARTS were off these weekend.
    I walked up to Raheny Road to get 29A... 38 min wait!!! :confused::eek:
    P*sstake

    Walked back home and drove the car into town.
    So even in "The Big Schmoke" it's sh*t!


  • Registered Users Posts: 29,294 ✭✭✭✭Mint Sauce


    grahambo wrote: »
    I don't have time to do that....
    Not with all the complaining about rural Ireland I have to do.



    Major cities should have the best public transport. There is a large number of people in close proximity of one another to make it viable

    Some Lad that lives 10 miles away from the nearest shop and it sitting on 50+ Acres of land should have none.

    And to add to that, DARTS were off these weekend.
    I walked up to Raheny Road to get 29A... 38 min wait!!! :confused::eek:
    P*sstake


    Walked back home and drove the car into town.
    So even in "The Big Schmoke" it's sh*t!

    1st world problems!

    :D

    Yes the major cities should have major transport, but rural areas at least deserve some kind of local bus service. Dont think there is a need for a through the night one, and as said, cant see any set up working as described, that a couple of local taxi drivers cant do them selves.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,189 ✭✭✭Malayalam


    I'd never use it. Travelling all over the area with a busload of drunks before getting to my house is my vision of hell. I don't begrudge it. Urban areas benefit from heavily subsidised transport, so a few minibus routes in rural areas is not exorbitant. I remain unconvinced that many will actually use it though. Time will tell.

    There are other hells. The grocery bus. I lived in a very rural area and had no car. Once a week, a long time ago, a minibus would bring the country women to town for the shopping. I had to go with the baba. There were no other options. Crammed in tight with 20- odd oul wans and no air-conditioning, EVERY ONE OF THEM SMOKING MAJORS and CARROLLS LIKE IT WAS THEIR LAST DAY ON EARTH... :mad:
    673.jpg

    I think the drink link is a good idea. None for around here though it seems, which means the locals will still have to keep driving drunk, I guess.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 23,495 ✭✭✭✭Billy86


    murpho999 wrote: »
    Improved public transport for rural communities with added benefit of reducing drink driving that may save lives.

    What is there to complain about?

    €450k is nothing really.

    I'd agree. I can't stand the Healy Rae's and what essentially amounts to the "f*** you I got mine" mindset of many of their constituents, but €450k is a small price for what at least on first glance appears a useful improvement. It's more of a patchwork idea that would need to be improved on over time, but addresses the core of the problem quite well. Apparently there are 2.25mn people employed in Ireland and for the sake of simplicity to assume that this will be paid for entirely by income tax, I'm happy to give a whopping €0.20c a year for it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,468 ✭✭✭CruelCoin


    grahambo wrote: »
    I know there is a Nite Link service from Dublin City centre out to the suburbs, but it's not the same. I want to be picked up from the Pub at at 11pm and dropped to my front door without having to pay a Taxi man!!!! :mad:

    And there lies the crux. You do have a bus, and taxis!

    Many in rural Ireland have neither, and punitive drink-drive laws impact those communities disproportionately.


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,098 ✭✭✭highdef


    grahambo wrote: »

    I'd LOVE a drink link to the local boozer. It's a 20 min walk to the local cruiser for me (Raheny, Dublin)
    I know there is a Nite Link service from Dublin City centre out to the suburbs, but it's not the same. I want to be picked up from the Pub at at 11pm and dropped to my front door without having to pay a Taxi man!!!! :mad:

    So you're only 20 minutes walk from the pub. Are you able bodied? If so, what's the issue with walking for 20 minutes, if you're not willing to pay for a taxi? Bear in mind, you have the luxury of such fancy things like footpaths & streetlights.

    If I were to walk the 6km to the nearest pub in Enfield, it would take an hour or possibly a bit more if don't walk briskly. Half of the walk is along very narrow country roads and the other half is along the hard shoulder of the old Dublin to Galway Road.....not a nice experience at night time. Oh, and did I say that I need to bring a torch and high viz for the return journey as it'll be pitch dark.

    Even getting a taxi is usually not an option as there are literally only one or two drivers in the vicinity and they usually head to Dublin at the weekends.

    I live in one of the counties that is getting this service (Kildare) but I'm not sure if my tiny village will be on the list.

    So consider yourself lucky that you can walk safely to and from the pub in a very short 20 minutes. Get walking, you lazy git - again, assuming that you've no underling issues stopping you from doing so; laziness is not an underlining issue, BTW :p


  • Registered Users Posts: 12,325 ✭✭✭✭mariaalice


    I would like to see it supported, but will it take off it wouldn't suit a lot of people they want the freedom to decide when to go and when to come home.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 23,495 ✭✭✭✭Billy86


    highdef wrote: »
    Even getting a taxi is usually not an option as there are literally only one or two drivers in the vicinity and they usually head to Dublin at the weekends.
    That's one of the main reasons I don't mind this, and why the "we don't get free taxis in Dublin" argument falls flat - in many parts of rural Ireland you don't get taxis, full stop. And why would someone operate there when they might get only 1-2 fares on a full night?

    And as you mentioned, road/path/lighting quality and distance also come into play. I can make the roughly 5-6km walk from Dublin city centre back home and never be left with no path, never be more than maybe 25-30 metres from a street light, rarely be more than a couple hundred metres from a shop, chipper, etc should I need to pick something up like milk/bread/etc, run out of smokes, get hungry as one does after a few pints and so on, and as best I am aware never have a point where I need to cross a single street without a traffic light being there (the only exception being the small 10-ish ft wide road outside the house because I'm in a cul-de-sac).

    I've got family in the countryside and a walk home from there can be a whole different kettle of fish. Also due to road/path/route quality it can take as long to walk 2km there as it does to cover 4km in Dublin.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 33,721 ✭✭✭✭RobertKK


    Rural Ireland gets so little services, this is an improvement as it will help with the problem of rural isolation, lack of transport, drink driving as some people are idiots and will help local businesses.
    I won't be using as I don't go the pub, but for people who do, this is very good.


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