Mr. Aodán Mac an Mhíle:

One point of clarification that has come to our attention in the last few days is that the 20% reduction applies to the PSO routes managed by the NTA. Contractors would enjoy exclusivity on the routes. There are no direct competitors on those routes.

The contracts that we have in place for the islands are not PSO routes. They are tendered subsidised routes but there are competitive operators running on the same routes. There is a key difference there in our contracts versus the NTA contracts. That is one of the points on which we need clarification from the Attorney General. That is a question of whether we would effectively be distorting by giving an added benefit to one operator over others. We may be in a position then that all of the operators on those routes would look to get the benefit from the Department even though we do not have contracts with them. That is the key concerns. We are favourably looking at this but we are concerned in that regard.