Ms Anne Graham:

We can do that in as much as we can within our resources. We rely on local offices and transport co-ordination units to do that role. It is about gathering local information, which is what Deputy Moynihan alluded to. The rural transport companies know their local communities.

They can put together information on the demand therein. We have not replaced that system. We want to build on local knowledge. Those companies feed that information to us, on which basis we table proposals on increased services or changes to services to meet local demand. This is how we plan for new services.

Regarding Cork rural transport, we propose to have a second office in Cork, specifically Fermoy, to serve the east of the county. We recognise that it is a large county. The main office will operate out of Bantry and the transport co-ordination unit will be in Fermoy.