Mr. Gerry Murphy:

The key strategic question was who is responsible and if the process is driven by the Minister or the NTA. I am before the committee today because it was an NTA decision. It was driven by national legislation, and there is a requirement that before giving another direct award contract to Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann, there should be consideration of whether the public services could only be guaranteed in the economic interest by giving it to the companies. We have completed the consideration and I am quite satisfied that we have carefully considered and balanced the needs of consumers and the requirement to keep viable companies. There was no Government decision not to have Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann. There is a need to test market pricing, and there are a number of benefits to competitive tendering. It induces discipline, even in Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann, to price and compete with other people for that 10%. If somebody else wins, we have a benchmark on performance and cost base. It will also bring competitive attention, for the next five years, on Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann, whether they win or not. That will be apparent for the next tendering phase, so the companies can maintain and manage prices in order to stay competitive. If this process was not followed, one would end up - as we do - trying to determine fare increases for a monopoly where there is no benchmark or comparator. It is particularly important to have some comparators in the Irish market so we can benchmark the performance of the State-owned bodies.

I agree that the subsidy has served us well and we have made the case to the Minister that the subsidy should not be reduced any further. In considering the next current revenue programme, the subsidy should be carefully protected. With regard to the rural hackney licence, we have put in a structure with all the protections to ensure it will not knock out other viable businesses. If no application came to us, we would not be concerned, as that would mean there is not a need. Anybody going around rural Ireland would say there are gaps in the service at night or at particular times. If there is some way we can service that need without affecting existing businesses, it would be a good measure. This does not just involve local businesses, as community groups are also involved. We are looking at the people in the area and the local authority responsible for the area, which have identified a gap. The protection is very strong.

With regard to routes being "cut to bits", as I stated earlier, I can absolutely guarantee that we will determine the routes. We want to protect them and grow services in the State, so we will not cut any rural or Dublin routes to bits.