Mr. Dermot O'Leary:

I thank the Deputy for her remarks on face coverings. If her question is what the committee can do, other speakers touched on the stakeholders' forum. The committee's report can insist that it be established immediately. Rather than having to go to the media, seemingly demanding its use on public transport, I could be doing it while sitting at a table with other stakeholders. I am well able to make the arguments in the media but the stakeholders' forum is where the business should be done.

On capacity generally, the country is very good at planning in the middle of a boom and trying to implement during recessions and we fail all the time. This is an opportunity to do the opposite. Irish Rail is a case in point. It is only last autumn where "Prime Time" broadcast an exposé, as it were, where more than 40 train carriages known as 2700s were mothballed because the NTA paymasters said they were too expensive to refurbish. Had they been in service, they would have helped and would continue to help with capacity issues. There has been severe underinvestment in rail.

The 115 route in Kildare is also an issue of capacity. Two types of people know about this, day in, day out, namely, the bus drivers and the people who use the service, but it takes a long time for the information to get up to the decision makers. Forgive me for flogging a dead horse but the NTA looms large in every answer from the two bodies represented here today. I am at pains to point out that I would rather work with it than criticise it every time I open my mouth.