Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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98. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the steps she is taking to highlight and prioritise rural transport needs to the Department of Transport including the integration of local link services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60227/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Our Rural Future 2021-2025 is the government's national rural development policy. It sets out an ambitious blueprint for the development of, and investment in, rural Ireland over a five-year period.

It is a whole-of-Government policy, and the more than 150 measures set out within it are being delivered by the Departments with responsibility for the relevant policy areas, including the Department of Transport.

Our Rural Future was developed following extensive consultation with rural stakeholders and communities, and issues of rural transport provision featured strongly in those discussions. The policy was developed on the basis of these consultations, leading to a strong focus on improving the provision of transport and other services in rural areas.

My Department is currently preparing the first Our Rural Future Progress Report, which will provide updates on actions detailed in the policy's 2021 Work Programme. These include rural transport measures such as the expansion of Local Link services in Co Kerry, investments in greenways and active travel infrastructure, as well as other public transport upgrades.

We are also looking ahead to 2022 and the development of next year's Our Rural Future Work Programme. My Officials have met with a range of Departments as part of this process. This series of bilateral engagements involved a dedicated meeting with the Department of Transport, which included consideration of discussion further rural transport measures that can be delivered in 2022 and included in the Work Programme.