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

That service, first and foremost, is for the people of Skibbereen, Bantry and Glengarriff, as well as the people in Kerry and beyond. It will start in two months and it is a new service. It is a good news story for the people of Bantry, I would suggest. Similarly, for the people of the Beara Peninsula, it is a significant development. Let us go further, however, if we can get the money. I will be perfectly honest, given we have a €70 billion demand in transport but only €35 billion in the pot, but I think Connecting Ireland should be one of our top priorities because we need good rural transport.

Further services are planned, such as the 01, from Cork to Tralee, and the 02, from Cork to Skibbereen, which will connect into the service to Killarney that I mentioned. Furthermore, the 237A, from Mizen Head to Castletownshend, will be welcome, I am sure the Deputy will agree. It will go through Lowertown, I would imagine, and all the places in between. There will also be the 237B, from Baltimore to Union Hall, the 253, from Dunmanway to Kinsale, and the 257, the extension of the route to Kinsale, although they are kind of in the horizon of what we want to do next. We will have to show that it works and we will have to get passengers up and revenue in, but I do not foresee us stopping with these routes. We are only at the start of this.

If we get the revenue and the passengers in, I see this expanding continually.

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