Last month, Aircoach pulled the Galway to Dublin bus route. It served AIT in Athlone and Portiuncula hospital, Ballinasloe. This followed Bus Éireann Expressway pulling its service from Galway to Dublin, which also served routes for students going to college, hospital appointments and Dublin Airport.

The pulling of public transport routes flies in the face of encouraging people to use public transport and it impacts on people who rely on public transport greatly, especially our older people. Local Link works really well but in some circumstances, those involved will tell us it cannot expand routes or services because it does not have the funding to do so. There are particular gaps in south Roscommon in Taghmaconnell and Curraghboy and then there is demand for services in villages such as Lisacul, which wants a service but Local Link does not have the funding.

Will the Taoiseach ask the Minister, Deputy Ryan, to look at supporting and resourcing Local Link, particularly in areas where bus services have been pulled to make sure there is a service in rural areas, particularly for our older people?

I thank Deputy Kerrane for raising the issue and I will ask the Minister to do that. As the Deputy rightly says, the entire purpose of Local Link is to provide public transport options in areas where there is a real need for the State, the community, to intervene. If there is a part of the Deputy’s constituency where commercial operators have withdrawn and she and I see a gap, I will bring it to the Minister’s attention and ask him to revert to the Deputy directly.