Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There was a service from Galway to the Aran Islands on a boat called the Oileáin Árann. It took half a day to get there and the other half to get back. To be quite honest, there were bugger all people going to the Aran Islands. When I became Minister, we introduced services from Rossaveal. In fairness to the boat companies, they got better and better boats and increased the frequency of services. They are now being run on a purely commercial basis, with a subsidy for winter services. Massive numbers, amounting to hundreds of thousands, are going in and out. There are only 1,500 people living on the islands. What was proved was a frequent and fast efficient service would attract passengers. It does not take two days to get from the islands and two days to get back; people can travel in the morning and do their business. Everything is geared towards the level of usage and requirements. We insisted on a service starting from the islands because people wanted to get to town in the morning and back last thing in the evening. It was not a premium service because the islanders wanted to get to town and do their business and return on the one day. The idea that there cannot be demand on radial routes out of cities-----