Mr. Fintan Towey:

That will be a new body. It will have a function independent of Irish Rail and the objective is to ensure there are fair conditions of competition.

The new proposals on the table are from the Commission. They have to go through the European legislative process before they ultimately become law and, obviously, they are subject to amendment during that process. The major elements of the proposals relating to Irish Rail are the prospect that the passenger market will be open to competition with effect from 1 January 2019 and public service contracts will have to be opened up to tender with effect from 1 January 2019.

This is not a case of these contracts being automatically taken away from the railway company. Rather, the existing railway company is entitled to participate in a competitive process. There are protections built in with regard to employees. These arise under the existing directive relating to the transfer of undertakings which provides that the rights of employees cannot be affected in the context of a merger or takeover. This existing provision applies in full.

The new regulatory framework does not impact on the capability of a member state to determine what services can be provided through the allocation of a subsidy in the general economic interest. It is not the case that this package would require that a subsidy be removed with regard to particular services or lines. It requires that where a subsidy is provided it must be provided through a competitive process rather than through the direct award process which obtains at present. I am not sure whether I have dealt with all of the questions.