Ms Anne Graham:

I will start with Deputy Canney's questions, one of which concerned the protracted nature of getting approval for bus stops. Unfortunately, the policy changed from being a Garda approval to a local authority approval. As it is set out, the only legislative body that can approve the location of bus stops under the Roads Act is a local authority. We do not have a role in approving the location of bus stops. We have provided guidance to local authorities about how and where they should locate bus stops, particularly those associated with rural services. We engage with local authorities to try to encourage them to ensure they approve bus stops in a timely manner but we acknowledge more work needs to be done in that area because some operators get through our part of the licensing system quite quickly and then get held up on bus stop approvals. We are aware of that. Unfortunately, we do not have the powers to approve bus stops. It is the local authority that approves them. Ms Malone might cover Local Link re-tendering.