Ms Anne Graham:

A decision in terms of removal is made by the commercial operator to remove the service if it considers it to be not viable. That is the decision Bus Éireann is making. What we are obliged to do is provide services. If there is a PSO in place, which we will determine, then we put in place services. There is a cost associated with those services. When we look at the overall public transport network, a proportion of that is provided by licensed operators and they do not charge the State for that other than a subsidy if they carry free travel. That comes at no overall subsidy to the State. If we were to provide services on foot of a withdrawal of those services, it comes at a cost to the State to provide a PSO. That is the network of services that we have in Ireland.