Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I realise I did not answer Deputy Duncan Smith's other question about the report. In that newspaper report, Dr. Ronan Glynn said that, as he understands it, the HSE is the designated authority. I apologise that I did not answer the question.

With regard to Carlow town, I absolutely support, and fully understand the Deputy's desire for, such a service. As we have seen in Kilkenny, a very similar urban bus transport service which was introduced prior to the onset of Covid was proving its worth and was hugely popular, with very high patronage, and it was transformative in terms of connectivity in the town. Although we do not have it in the 2021 budget - in part, as the Deputy said, because of all the emergency funding we have had to provide - this sort of service is exactly the sort of priority I would like to support if we have any budgetary flexibility. That type of bus service is exactly what we need for our towns.

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