Mr. Graham Doyle:

On the structure, a number of years ago when this was being set up, there were what were seen as public service obligation, PSO, services that were socially necessary but economically unviable. They were dealt with through what is called a direct award contract. The package of services within that is open to the National Transport Authority, NTA, to contract with the operator, or Bus Éireann in the case of many of its services. It provides funding or subsidy to enable those services to operate. The services mentioned by the Deputy as going through a number of towns - which they do in many cases - were presented by Bus Éireann as commercial services. At the time they were profitable and would not have received subvention. I explained to Deputy Cullinane earlier that the National Transport Authority licences those services. It does not require Bus Éireann to make the stops that it does and it is open to Bus Éireann to seek revision of those licence conditions in terms of where a bus stops and taking into account where other operators stop.

If Bus Éireann decides to do that, to the extent that those services were covering a public service or a need for a public service, it is open to the NTA to bring about a solution that prevents people who need those public services from being denied them. It does that in a number of ways. It can extend existing PSO services in some instances to backfill the service. It can make changes in some of the rural transport programme to provide the services or it can tender services. Bus Éireann or somebody else could apply for those. That is how it would be dealt with.