Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation Dail Éireann — 2026-05-13 ============================================================ Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central I appreciate that the Deputy is praising Local Link. I remember that it is the Deputy's bête noire , former Minister, Eamon Ryan, who introduced Local Link. Deputy Collins rather shamelessly at the time hopped on the bus and presented it as his own initiative in west Cork. He is always adept at local politics. Local Link has turned out to be very effective and very impactful. I pay tribute to our former colleague, Eamon Ryan, and give credit where it is due, for supporting that. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has continued his support for it. There are always limits to public expenditure in terms of what we can do in any one year but this is a programme that is working for people on the ground in rural Ireland. It has a significant impact on increased socialisation and facilitating movement. We have included a recent €750 million package to support its operation with regard to the increased fuel costs. I will alert the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to Deputy Collins's continued interest in Local Link. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-13/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:03+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-13