Mr. Ian Brannigan:

There is a lot of value in that. The Deputy mentioned McHale. There is also PEL and there is SIS Pitches, which is doing the pitches for the World Cup. There are huge technical services businesses located in rural areas for the reasons the Deputy has mentioned. Bringing them together in a mapping exercise is an idea we would need to consider and revert to him on. The Deputy mentioned decentralisation. That is a fascinating study. It has not come across our desks to look at. Anecdotally, we have managed to hire into the organisation in recent years. We are small and modest but we are the definition of a decentralised but regionally-based body. We have had an average of 50 to 78 applicants for each position. I will be brutally honest; that surprised us. We were asking "Really?". That says something about people wanting to go to areas where one would not think it is logical for them to go. Again, I would have to come back to the Deputy on the idea of a more in-depth study. We would have to ask how easy it would be to do and whether there is information to hand. It is something worth considering however.

On the potential for commuter rail, we have looked at rail freight as an in to getting the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and others to look at the case. The previous board and chairman met Iarnród Éireann to figure out what it takes to create lines because we have an interest in biomass and bulk and in getting the infrastructure in the region improved. We did the analysis on rail freight. That has gone into the public arena. It helped push things along a little bit. We have not looked at the international comparisons in respect of commuter rail which the Deputy has talked about, however, and we have not looked at the drivers. Again, that is something about which I will need to talk to the policy team. We will need to see what is easily to hand and what we should be doing.