Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is important. I am critical of CIÉ and yesterday I listened to people from Roscommon on "Morning Ireland" whose service had been replaced by a service to Dublin Airport. Every route in the country seems to start or end at an airport and the people in between do not count. CIE has abandoned many rural areas and there will be further denuding of CIE expressway services around the country so it is important that there is a proper timetable for any alternative that the NTA licences.

My only criticism is that when the NTA receives a request for a licence for a route it is obliged to see who else has a licence on that route. It does not want to license a company to go ten minutes ahead of the existing bus because it would undermine it but the existing licence holder seems to have quite a bit of control and power or influence over the system and I am not sure where the public interest is involved in the licensing system. Will Mr. Murphy comment on that? This may be a legislative issue which we could consider when reviewing this presentation.