Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry for interjecting but the clock is always against us. I thank the Minister for his detailed reply.

Some of the positive gains we have made over the past three years are now at risk of being eroded. I am speaking of the Local Link service. Many of the new routes that have been licensed by the National Transport Authority, NTA, are linked to locations in rural Ireland where there are Ukrainian war refugees and international protection applicants. One specific example is that of Loop Head, which is the location of the famous Loop Head lighthouse in County Clare. There is now a beautiful Local Link bus that goes up and down that peninsula every day carrying locals, schoolchildren and, crucially, Ukrainian war refugees. Those war refugees will move out next week. Accommodation is being consolidated and they are being moved to a different venue. We only just found out today that bus service, which is so crucial, will be withdrawn. It is a service that serves the local community and the refugee population, but also one of our key tourism sites. There are many facets to this matter, including overlapping Departments, but I ask the Minister to be a champion for retention of such services. Whatever strings brought those services in the first place, including whether they were tied to accommodation centres, we should not lose whatever we gained over the past three years.