Mr. David McGuinness:

The worrying thing is that during the pandemic, through no fault of their own, approximately 2,000 drivers left the industry. The most worrying thing about that is that not too many of them have come back. That gives an indication of the confidence, or lack thereof, in the industry by drivers who have operated within the sector, many of them for 20 or 30 years. They have chosen a different career path rather than come back to the industry that they have put finance into and served for 30 years. That would be the worrying aspect, that not many of these 2,000 driver who left the industry are willing to come back into it, due to the issues that the Senator mentioned, such as the high costs, lack of security and the vulnerability of the industry in general.