Mr. Vincent Harrison:

The world is a more difficult place now than it was in 2019 when we were at peak performance, even though we were innocent and did not realise what was coming around the corner. We can forgive the process for considering a rising tide, but that the damage will effectively be compounded in 2023 is one of the reasons we must translate the thousands of pages of our submission to the simple idea of our opening statement that it is "inexplicable". There are always arguments about the differences in security numbers and some of the other details, but in summary terms we are uncomfortable with the long-term perspective of how we can achieve the statutory responsibilities we carry as a business.

As I have said in a variety of forums, we are keen to promote all forms of connectivity to the airport, and the more sustainable they are, the better. We are keen proponents of the metro, but in advance of that, we put much hope and expectation in BusConnects, especially in the corridors to Dublin Airport, not only to meet the needs of passengers but to meet the needs of the 20,000 people who work on campus, most of whom do not work for the DAA, but for other businesses, and many of whom live in Swords and surrounding areas and do not have access to off-peak public transport.

The Acting Chair mentioned taxis. They are a perennial issue. The primary problem, from a transport committee the point of view, is a lack of taxi drivers. Various measures may be put in place to address that. We are particularly impacted by that at peak times and night-time. If a concert is on in town, it is hard to get a taxi. It is hard to explain that to an arriving passenger who expects them to be available. Our recent experience over Christmas, when we know taxis were problematic, is that 93% of passengers waited less than ten minutes for a taxi. That is good but we are aware that night-time availability can be impacted for other reasons.

Mr. Vincent Harrison: ...even in 2019