I raise with the Deputy Leader the matter of public transport and our Local Link services, which, I believe we can all agree, provide a very valuable service across rural Ireland in respect of both the request and fixed services. We have seen investment over many years where new routes have been created. I ask for a debate with the Minister, Deputy Ryan, on the continued roll-out of and the flexibilities required within the service. We certainly have situations, for example, on the new 432 service in Connemara, which serves Carraroe, Carna, Casla, Roundstone, Ballyconneely and Clifden, which has fixed stops. You cannot request a stop along the route. Someone living halfway between Ballyconneely and Clifden will have to go back to Ballyconneely to pick up the bus to go forward to Clifden. This obviously defeats the purpose of taking cars off the road, particularly when it comes to pensioners and non-drivers. Putting in more request stops would make perfect sense when it comes to increasing the use of the service, taking cars off the road and saving time. I appreciate that if a house is on a bad bend on a road, there could be issues with just putting out your hand and requesting a bus to stop. However, more designated stops along particular routes would make perfect sense.

I ask, therefore, for a debate with the Minister, Deputy Ryan, on the flexibilities the National Transport Authority, NTA, could provide with this service. It is something that is catching on and will continue to catch on into the future. We can see additional services being rolled out along routes with regard to both frequency and the addition of new routes. There needs to be that level of flexibility to ensure this service is enhanced and becomes something of greater benefit to local users. It makes perfect sense also in respect of the environment and taking cars off the road.

I want to talk about the public services card. The Department of Social Protection has been building a biometric photo and template database of 3.2 million people. There is no legal basis for collecting these data in exchange for services people are legally entitled to. Through a freedom of information request, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL, and Digital Rights Ireland have found that the Department of Social Protection has known since 2021 that this database is illegal. This processing of personal and sensitive data obviously affects most of those who access State supports. There are statements on data protection this week but this is an issue which the Department of Social Protection must answer for because this is essentially a mass infringement of privacy by the State.

I thank the Cathaoirleach and colleagues. In reply to Senator Warfield, I am certain the Department of Social Protection will respond, when it can, to the accusations and, in particular and more importantly, to the results of a finding by the Data Protection Commission. I will certainly pass on the Senator's message and I will see if I can seek a response for him.

Senators Kyne and Casey both brought up relevant issues on the same topic, so I may ask for a debate on rural transport. Senator Casey's request was to look for interlinking within a town and Senator Kyne made a very logical suggestion that we should have more spaces and places where people can actually stop to pick up the service instead of having to get into a car to go to a bus stop, which makes no sense whatsoever. We will ask that that debate combines both those requests.

I say to Senators O'Sullivan, Malcolm Byrne and Craughwell, while not commenting on any of the comments, that there is a Barbra Streisand effect here given that a public consultation, which would have probably gone over most people in this country's heads and to which they would not have paid much attention, is now the focus of much conversation at many breakfast tables, which I think is ultimately the Tánaiste's aim. It is really welcome.

I cannot tell Senator O'Sullivan how pleased I am this morning. What disappoints me are the comments he made regarding the reaction from some people. This is a huge step forward by the Tánaiste and by the shared island group to try to bring unity in certain aspects of our country where we can co-operate and where we benefit. My daughter tried to go to Ulster University in Derry a number of years ago to do nursing. A huge number of students from the Republic of Ireland travel to the North of Ireland and we should be seen to support them-----