Ms Anne Graham:

The decision would not be to give it to Bus Éireann. We are not in a position to change a commercial service directly into a PSO service. That is not allowed under existing legislation, nor is it allowed under state aid rules. There would be state aid issues associated with that. If we determine that a public service obligation service is required on a particular route from which Bus Éireann is withdrawing, we can address that in a number of ways. If it is possible to extend an existing PSO service in the area, we would consider doing that. Otherwise, we would have to tender that service in the open market.