Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I note the maritime budget is down by 7% but there was a carryover of €4.8 million to bring it back up. While this is welcome, it is a pity that the €4.8 million was not utilised last year to address other shortfall areas such as repairing potholes and so forth. It is important the extra helicopter has been assigned to the service. How are the savings achieved in this area? Are there cutbacks in the number of flights? Has there been a restriction on services for islands? One often hears people from island communities saying they feel they do not get the same service as that on the mainland. Will the Minister elaborate on that?