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Woman, aged 51-60:
"You
have to be able to drive if you need to get out and
about - [there's] not enough public transport"
Single mother:
"The
nearest chemist, doctor and bank is 13 miles away from
me and I have no transport - I rely on my parents to
take me everywhere"
Single never married middle aged woman:
"Time
[of buses] is terrible. No bus for people who have to
get to work for 8am and the last bus leaves Derry at
5.10 {in the evening]"
Single, elderly woman:
"Public
transport is better than years ago"
Woman,
aged 61-70:
"There's
not enough public transport to beaches in Inishowen"
Mother
of three:
"Driving
is a necessity where I live. I couldn't go anywhere
if I didn't drive. Road tax is very expensive
- we don't get anything back. It is a necessity
to have a car and it takes at least €1000 to even get
a car on the road"
Mother
of two, aged 31-40:
"[It's]
a long distance to travel to see my family - I have to be able to drive,
public transport is terrible, really bad"
4.6
Case study 2: Transport problems, no medical card and
twins
Women,
middle thirties, mother of 4:
This woman informed the researcher of the pointlessness
of public transport in her case - she would have to
travel 5 miles to get a bus and is, therefore, unable
to do without a car. Her daughter gets a free
bus to school but she has to collect her at two o'clock
[when she finishes] because the bus doesn't leave them
home until three. "The bus takes them to
school, but I have to collect them at two 'cause there
is no bus until three - if I didn't have the car I would
need to pay someone to lift them at two".
She went on to explain her difficulties with not having
a medical card: "I could be doing with a medical
card, you might not be there [with the doctor] for two
months, then you could be there four times in the one
month, sometimes even four times in the one week. It averages
out once or twice a month definitely - it's €30 every
time I have to go to the doctor. One time I was in with
the four of them and he charged me €50 but if you are
in with one, it's €30. On average it's €60 a month just
for the doctor I try not to go unless I have to.
As a mother of twins, she talked about the fight to
have all multiple births recognised as the same: "
My children are being discriminated against, they are children of multiple
birth. Triplets get double the children's allowance
for each child, my children get one and a half times.
It's not the value of the money, it's the fact that
they are being discriminated against, that they are
less of a multiple birth than the triplets. I wouldn't
grudge the people with the triplets their extra half,
it's just that my children are being classed less of
a multiple birth than the triplets".
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