Mr. Gerry Murphy:

No. I can absolutely guarantee that there is no way the rural hackney licence will displace or affect the work of the rural transport groups. They operate certain scheduled service and door-to-door services. However, they do not operate in an isolated rural area at 11 p.m. for somebody in a local hotel or pub wanting to get home. That is one of the big gaps that has been articulated to us. That is not a gap that existing rural transport groups could fill or would wish to fill. Rural hackney licences will be granted to people allowing them to operate for 10 km or 15 km. They would be permitted to stand in the car park of the local pub - at the moment a hackney licence does not permit standing. They would be able to pick up and people would know they were there that evening. That licence would only be issued if we were informed that the local authority, the rural transport groups and the other social groups in the area had identified such a need. That is the only situation in which we will issue such a licence.