Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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30. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 51 of 17 October 2024, the total funding allocated specifically to Local Link in 2024, in tabular form. [45688/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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My Department is strongly committed to improving public transport services in rural areas and to piloting new transport initiatives for people of all ages and abilities living there.

The key objectives for Local Link include continuing to address rural social exclusion and the integration of Local Link with other public transport services. I am pleased to say that this Government has invested significantly in these services over its lifetime. There has been a substantial increase in funding allocated for Local Link services, going from €21m in 2019 to €57m this year, broken down as follows:

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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31. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 51 of 17 October 2024, the total funding allocated specifically to Local Link in 2025, in tabular form. [45689/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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My Department is strongly committed to improving public transport services in rural areas and to piloting new transport initiatives for people of all ages and abilities living there.

My Department are supporting this by providing increased funding for enhancing TFI Local Link services, for both regular "timetabled" services, and "door-to-door" demand responsive services. There has been a substantial increase in funding allocated for Local Link services, going from €12 million in 2016 to €57m in 2024.

A total funding package of €652m has been provided for PSO and Local Link Services under Budget 2025 for public transport, including funds for the continued roll-out of new services next year under the Connecting Ireland programme, and the roll-out of new town services. The specific allocation for Local Link from this package will be finalised as part of the 2025 Revised Estimates Volume (REV) process. The 2025 REV will be published in the coming months.