Mr. Ray Hernan:

There is no intention to seek to change the service we provide.

To answer Deputy O'Keeffe, there are three mechanisms to get aid. The Expressway service is a commercial organisation. EU state aid rules are very clear that it cannot receive any subvention of any type to protect its operation. With regard to the other two, we have a subvention from the NTA to cover all of our PSO routes and the school services are covered by the Department of Education and Skills. We cannot get any more income or any type of subvention, state aid or otherwise, for the Expressway service. However, it is on file with the Department of Social Protection that our previous CEO was concerned about the level of support for free travel. This is on file in the Department. As I stated in my opening statement, we will follow up to see whether we can get an increase. It will not fix the overall underlying problem that exists in Bus Éireann.