Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú:

I do not believe the Department should do the route work. There is a transport expertise that is unique to Bus Éireann. There is route design, ticketing, and a whole range of things with which we, as a Department, do not want to be involved. We have set up agencies to provide State examinations and to do the work of the National Council for Special Education, NCSE. We set up one on education welfare that is now within Tusla under the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. I do not believe the Department itself should be undertaking that work. Given the extent to which Bus Éireann outsources in the first place, it is the company's transport management expertise that is vital and very important to us.

On value for money, we have to ensure that we understand all of the costs and that we are on top of all of the costs, and its accountants are signing off on these, and we are checking as appropriate. That is part of the service level agreement that we have discussed, along with a number of other matters.