Mr. William Martin:

As regards coach tourism, over the past seven or eight years the manufacturers have made a lot of strides in reducing the emissions of diesel vehicles. Most of the tourism fleet in Ireland is Euro 6 grade which is very clean running. In regard to coach tourism at the moment, the use of electric vehicles and stuff like that, the vehicles are not really designed yet that would be suitable for us mainly because we have to carry luggage. The amount of battery power needed to drive the vehicle would be such that it would impact on the luggage space. They are making strides and we are ready to embrace it when it comes. At the moment, financially, taking a diesel coach, an environmentally-friendly one, as good as they are, we are talking north of €300,000 whereas the electric coaches are north of €500,000 or €600,000. The coach tourism product in Ireland is generally delivered by small family businesses and there is no way they would be able to raise those kind of funds on any scale to make a difference.