Ms Anne Graham:

Including Bus Éireann's commercial services, which are Expressway, what we have now and what we have been given information about to assist us to prepare for the withdrawal of licences are the three routes that have been identified by Bus Éireann that are already in the public domain. They are the routes we are trying to assess to ascertain whether we can put in additional services. That is the information that we have. We do not have detailed information on what are the losses associated with those routes. That remains with the company because it is commercially sensitive information. We would not want to have that information and we would not want to have it for any other private operator either. That remains with the companies. We analyse general statistics on a yearly basis concerning services, passenger numbers, the growth in passenger numbers, whether they are wheelchair accessible services and general information related to the commercial licensed market. We do not seek any information related to the finances of those companies. That is why that information is not available. We will make available to this committee any information that we have available in terms of licensed services.

The rationale for the decision to withdraw routes is again for Bus Éireann to make. It concerns that company's licences and commercial business and it makes the decision on what they withdraw and do not withdraw. Our responsibility is to ensure there is a public transport service and to put in place what might be replacement services. That will probably come at a cost to the State because we do not get those services for free. If we do expand the existing PSO network of services or if we have to tender services, that comes at a cost. Obviously that would be offset against revenue that would be accrued.