A late night rural bus service is being planned for 15 counties.
The proposed extended service will be on existing routes while it is being piloted, and is under active consideration by the Transport Minister.
Fine Gael has developed the plan with Local Link operators which is overseen by the National Transport Authority.
Party Chairman Martin Heydon says it's about connecting rural communities and not just servicing rural pubs in the face of Shane Ross's tough new drink driving rules:
The proposed one year pilot is costed at around a million euro and will mainly cover additional late night services between 11pm and midnight.
The counties where the service is set to be piloted on 38 rural routes are Cork, Kerry, Kildare, Limerick, Donegal. Monaghon, Westemath, Longford, Meath and Tipperary.
