Ms Fiona Ross:

The Deputy asked about the loss of the contracts. In a buoyant economy we have seen there is continued demand and there have been no job losses, for example, as a result of the award. It is early days in considering the impact of the loss of those contracts on the operators. We have not yet seen the new operator take up the role just yet. The jury is out on the long-term impact of privatising routes or awarding the contracts to other providers. It is a buoyant economy currently and Bus Éireann is seeking additional drivers. I am hoping there will be good job security and progress in that direction. We will need to come back to it at a later stage once we see how the operations have done over a period.

There is concern around the so-called privatisation agenda and from the operating company's perspective, we must be ready to tender and, I hope, compete effectively. This goes back to some of the earlier points I made about ensuring the operating companies are as efficient as they can be in order to win the tenders when they emerge. It is something I know is of prime importance and a focus for the operating companies. It is something I would like to get a much better handle on personally once I am in post in terms of how they can compete for those contracts in future under the new PSO awards in the next year. I am hopeful that will be the case and they will continue to win awards. I am not yet in post and I have not met the Minister or people from the NTA. I have not met anybody in an official capacity just yet. I look forward to doing that and I have had some informal conversations. I would like to come back to the committee in due course when I have had those official engagements around some of these key matters.

I wish I could give assurances on pension funding. I am informed things are progressing well with meetings that are due to take place tomorrow with some of the employee representatives around securing some of that funding for the legal opinion. It is all I know at this point as those meetings have not yet taken place. I understand it is looking positive. That is all I can say today.