Ms Vivienne Jupp:

In regard to Deputy Colreavy's questions, I am afraid I do not have an answer as to how the payroll, at 55% of the cost base, compares to other operators in other countries. I will have to come back to him on that.

The individual companies do not buy the fuel. We buy it centrally and we hedge in advance so that we are not caught by fuel cost changes. We know at the beginning of the year what our fuel will cost us. It only has an impact overall when fuel prices go up because we pay extra for it.

In regard to the pension fund, like any other pension system, CIE's two defined benefit pension schemes are in deficit to the tune of €481 million. That differs between the two schemes. The executive 1951 scheme, of which there are 2,153 members, has the greatest deficit, which is €384 million. The deficit in what is called the regular wages scheme, which has 6,674 members, is €97 million. The deficits in both of these schemes increased hugely during 2012 as the discount rate used to value future the pension liabilities of these schemes fell in line with bond yields in the market. This decrease in bond yields increased the future costs of these liabilities. We have submitted our funding proposal to meet the minimum funding standard and that has gone to the Pensions Board. We await a response from the Pensions Board to the proposals we have put forward.

In regard to the other questions the Deputy asked, I will ask Mr. Franks to talk about revenue protection officers and their role.