Mr. Hugh Creegan:

First, it is important to clarify that the Government decision was for the non-purchase of diesel buses for urban use. Unfortunately, electric technology has not got to the stage to which we can run coaches from here to Letterkenny and back again. That provision related to buses for urban use. We are trialling hydrogen coaches but until the technology develops, we still have to buy diesel buses and coaches for the longer-distance routes outside of the urban areas.

The fleet the Deputy referred to from 2020 were a carryover order from one we had placed in 2019 and some of them might have been ordered in 2018. Unfortunately, the coach builder, which was Wrightbus in Ballymena in Northern Ireland, went into administration and then may have gone into receivership afterwards. The delivery of those vehicles took considerable sorting out. They were ordered previous to that deadline. Unfortunately, due to administration and that company's problems, they were not delivered until subsequent to that date.