Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is the question I was going to ask, namely, how often do surveys take place? I attended a party meeting last night at which this came up. There are private operators who took up the free travel scheme in the past but when people present their free travel scheme card now, they are told the operators are no longer taking it. What mechanisms are in place to ensure that private operators who are in receipt of funding to provide free travel provide it?

I am conscious of the time and I will conclude on this point. With regard to the private contractors, it all done based on a survey. How do we know that we are getting value for the money we are paying the private contractors? How can we be sure that they are providing the service and that people can avail of free travel? The funding levels have been capped since 2010. I would be interested to know the number of people that availed of free travel in 2010 and the number that are eligible for free travel in 2017.