Mr. Ray Hernan:

There are a number of factors. Last year we lost approximately €6 million. That was originally the projected outcome for this year as well.

One of the key areas of increase in the current year is the level of insurance claims that the company has had to deal with. Not only have we had increased insurance claims but we have also had increased payouts on those claims as well. That is something I have already identified as an area that we need to focus on. We cannot afford to see that escalating for future years, if we get through this year.

There are other costs as well that are increasing at a faster rate than the revenue growth, and unfortunately one of them is bus hire. This brings me back to the question if we have the most efficient operational structures in place in the organisation to minimise the bus hire costs that we are incurring, and also to minimise the level of overtime that we are also incurring across out staff network.

The solution to this is two-pronged. We must optimise the utilisation of two key resources. We need to optimise use of our bus fleet so that we have the maximum amount of buses at peak times, to meet peak demand. At the moment, we are not meeting that target. The second is that we must optimise the rostering schedules that we have for our drivers. That is not being done in the most efficient way to maximise the usage and utilisation of those key people within our organisation.