Mr. Ray Hernan:

I am responding to Deputy Munster's point as well. First and foremost, I take my responsibilities as CEO of this organisation extremely seriously. My priority is to make sure that if any redundancies are to be made, they will be kept to a minimum. None of us can avoid the situation that exists in this organisation, which is a serious financial predicament. It is my obligation as CEO to make sure we come up with a credible plan that safeguards the future of Bus Éireann not only for this year but long into the future. I do take my responsibilities extremely seriously. Severance packages that have been entered into are confidential. I do not know what they are. That is the case, as I understand it. Unfortunately, I am not able to say what was within the agreements.

We engage, as required, with a number of consultants. We do not have a new head of HR. We have an acting head of HR. What we enter into with consultants is on an ad hocbasis or as required. Any consultancy agreements that we enter into follow normal procurement procedures. I accept that in some in instances we also get derogations based on exceptional circumstances that are already clearly outlined under State rules.