Ms Joan Carthy:

I would like to address the question of whether the Ministers had been informed if the different groups were happy with the reduction of hours. I will start by saying that I do not think any organisation has called for hours to be reduced in its submission. They have always said that we need to be able to travel freely. It was never the contention that lesser hours would be good enough. Speaking for our own organisation, along with others, both of these issues were brought up with the Minister over and over again in pre-budget submissions and in any opportunity that we have had. We have also raised them with the current Government and previous Governments. All this information is out there in all sorts of different formats, and has been brought forward. When something happens in a piecemeal sort of way, there is a sense that we should be grateful for what we are given. When something happens, such as the reduction from 24 hours to four hours, the assumption is that we are happy with it. That not the same thing as giving us the opportunity to be part of that discussion, to say if we are happy or unhappy about it.