A Cork South-West TD says Cork County Council and the Department of Rural and Community Development need to deliver on a transport solution for the people and farmers of Dursey Island.
The Dursey Island cable car is due to close next Friday for what Cork County Council is calling "a major maintenance programme".
Ireland's only cable car will be out of commission from the 1st April to the 30th November.
The repairs will take around eight months but no replacement service has been provided.
Dursey Island is one of the few inhabited islands off the southwest coast of Ireland.
Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan told RedFM News, that spring and summer "are incredibly important months" for the island:
"And what we're trying to desperately do at the moment is put in place some type of temporary access to the island, probably in the form of a ferry service. But that is where the impasse seems to be at the moment. Cork County Council are the local authority who operate the cable car, they run the cable-car. On the other hand, you have the Department of Community and Rural Affairs by Heather Humphries so I guess there's a tit-for-tat and a back-and-forth as to whose responsibility it is to fund a replacement service and make sure people, and particularly farmers who have livestock on the island, can get to the island during these incredibly important months".
