Mr. Tim Gaston:

In respect of bus, rail and tram usage, the protection inspectors will look for the free travel pass. If they have concerns, they have the opportunity to contact the free travel section and challenge whether a pass is valid. They withdraw a very significant number of paper passes that they consider may be being abused and hand that over to the Department of Social Protection. With the roll-out of the public services card, and I spoke earlier about the on-bus equipment, we also have a hand-held ticket machine that will inspect the public services card and show whether it is valid. Therefore, the photograph is checked and there is also the electronic check to ensure the pass is still valid. The electronic system is much stronger and far less likely to be abused than the paper system.