Mr. David Conway:

The fleet is large and varied. Due to the way in which most of our members work, the fleet is cascaded. Many vehicles come in as front-line vehicles on scheduled or tour services. As their age profile increases, they are moved down along services until they eventually do school transport. That said, there is an age limit on school transport. I do not only mean in respect of the driver, which is 70 years, but in respect of the vehicle, where the limit is 20 years. If a bus is a day over 20 years of age, it cannot be used on school transport contracts.

By and large, the fleet is Euro 6, which is the most environmentally friendly set of limits at the moment. For coaches, electrification poses particular challenges around the usage of the vehicle, the distances they are required to cover and the weight of the luggage and passengers they must carry. Currently, the longer term solution appears to be hydrogen.

There are very few specific supports. A €5 million scheme was made available last year for more environmentally friendly fleets across the haulage and passenger transport markets. The scheme was capped at €500,000 for an individual applicant. It was to make up 50% of the difference between a conventional diesel vehicle and the alternative fuel vehicle.