A proposal that the Government should provide "mobile public sector clinics" for people in rural Ireland is to be examined today at the Irish Rural Link conference, which opened last night in Cavan.
The event, attended by rural activists from all parts of the island, will be looking at systems which have proved effective in providing services to rural communities in other countries.
The issue of subsidised transport by taxi and community buses, as well as the multiple use of school buses for the community, is to be examined.
Irish Rural Link's chief executive, Séamus Boland, said that mobile public sector clinics were commonplace in other European countries, as were mobile adult eduction units.
Mr Boland said that the purpose of the annual conference was to hear from a number of experts who would challenge the notion that rural communities could not be provided with quality public services.
"Over the last 12 months there has been considerable media attention on the issue of declining services in rural areas," he continued.
"At various times the media have focused on post office closures, inadequate out-of-hours medical services or poor cancer-care treatment for those living outside the greater Dublin area. However, there has been very little media discussion of how we can actually solve the problem of access to services in rural areas.
"Nor has improving access to services been a major election priority for any of the political parties."
He added: "While everyone accepts that services cannot be delivered in exactly the same fashion in rural areas as they are in urban areas, we need policy-makers to begin to find imaginative ways of delivering services to rural areas."