Ms Anne Graham:

As regards rural transport and hackneys and trying to increase the number operating within rural Ireland, we will look at every kind of policy issue around that when we do a review. For the benefit of the committee, there are other forms of transport, such as community transport, that can also be covered. There can be exemptions for people who want to provide a car service for their local community. That can be exempted under certain conditions in the legislation as well. There are a number of different models around providing transport, including car transport, in rural Ireland. We just need to look at what the appropriate model is and what will ensure we get even more of that type of transport into rural Ireland.

As regards wheelchair accessibility, we have made good progress if we are at 18% of all SPSVs at this stage, knowing that it is a growing number. We are seeing recovery in the taxi fleet as well, so it is 18% of a recovering number. If we were able to maintain the grants, we should get very close to our 25% target.