Kilcullen bus services 'will be retained'

Bus Eireann and JJ Kavanagh have given assurances that the services through Kilcullen will be retained after the opening of the next section of the M9 motorway in the autumn.

Local councillor Martin Heydon was given the assurances after a meeting with representatives of the bus companies, at the Athy Area Committee meeting. The companies had been invited to give their views on a motion put down by the FG councillor relating to the need for services to be expanded to Moone, Timolin and Ballitore.

At present, Bus Eireann and JJ Kavangh's Waterford to Dublin services only stop at Castledermot and Kilcullen, while bypassing the villages in between.

"This causes problems for people in these villages," the newly elected councillor says, "particularly the elderly who don't have a means of transport and have to try to make it to the bigger towns to avail of the bus service.

"Back in the 1950s and 60s these villages were always serviced by the national carrier but in recent times this service has ceased. This problem will be a lot worse when the new M9 motorway opens, in the back end of this year, leaving some people very isolated."

He asked that one service in the morning and one in the evening would stop in the villages thus giving local residents a vital link to Dublin.