One campaigner says the Government can be doing much more to help connect rural communities.
Emma DeSouza believes there is a need for urgent action on public transport in Ireland, citing her own personal experiences.
She told Newstalk Breakfast: "I myself live in Fermanagh, which is very rural, and I regularly commute by public transport to Dublin.
"And I would describe that experience as a hellscape.
"This is not an issue that is unique to Fermanagh - it is something that is experienced across rural areas, across our shared island.
"The Government talks about our shared island quite a bit - but when it comes to infrastructure in terms public transport provision, rail infrastructure, there really is a disconnect across this island".
'One bus a week'
She says this can be seen when looking at rail lines that were here in the 1920s.
"We still have entire counties that are systemically cut off from any kind of rail infrastructure, and entire communities that are serviced by just one bus a week".
Emma says plans need to be more ambitious than simply looking at cost and population size.
"The reality is if there was more buses - more frequent buses, green buses - if there was more rail infrastructure, than these areas would be more accessible.
"That would increase tourism to rural communities, and it would increase the ability of people to be able to commute from areas outside of Dublin".
And she believes this would then have a knock-on effect "in terms of increasing our economic corridors, decreasing our emissions, easing congestion and housing pressures and it would also revitalise rural communities.
"The population in these areas might be smaller at the moment, but if there was better infrastructure then there'd be more people out there".
