Mr. Gerry Murphy:

We are just finalising our own review of that corridor to see what can be done to better utilise it - for example, whether we can establish better bus links to it and whether we can do something about the timetabling. However, in essence, one is talking about a recently built capital asset that is being under-utilised. Passenger demand has generally gone down in the network. The numbers have not materialised as expected. There are a range of rail services that are heavily subsidised.

What we are also going to do this year is to look generally across the rail network at the strategy for providing services - that is, where should we concentrate the subsidy money - but I still come back to the point that one would be loath to cut public transport services in the State, whether they be bus or rail, because our services are under-provided across the State. We need to increase public transport services. People in rural Ireland feel they are not well served at all by public transport.