Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Thank you, Ms Nic Aongusa. I have a few initial questions on the consultation process. We understand that this was disrupted because of Covid-19. Perhaps you could outline how you overcame that in terms of the online meetings and how you facilitated that engagement. Second, I see that you are planning engagements on a number of islands next month. What timelines are you looking at for the completion of this body of work? Initially, we were looking at the end of this year, but members are very anxious to see this published.

What sort of a timeline are we looking at on foot of this further engagement?

Another issue members have raised consistently is the 20% reduction in public transport costs for everyone using public transport except our island communities. This has not been extended to the ferries on our offshore islands. There is a tender process in terms of the competition that takes place but a separate charge is paid by islanders which is not the tourist charge paid by visitors to the islands. Surely a mechanism can be found to reduce that in accordance with the reduction we have seen in other parts of the country. Will Ms Nic Aongusa and her colleagues address those two issues?