Mr. John McCarthy:

First, I must emphasise the opportunity the committee has given us today to speak for the conference and to introduce and discuss it with members, and I hope people out there might be able to pick up on that as well. It has given us a wonderful opportunity. We are in the space of trying to reach out and make people throughout the country and throughout Europe and elsewhere aware of the conference and what we are looking to achieve with it. We think that is important and we are looking to use any opportunity we can to achieve that.

The conference is designed to cover all modes but in a manner that is relevant from an Irish context because we are the hosts and we want to shape the conference in a manner that is useful for ourselves but also for everybody else. We are kind of custodians of the conference for the time we have it. Where we see gaps in the agenda or the proceedings, we will look to fill them to make sure there is an evenness and a balance in terms of how it approaches the wider topic that presents itself to transport as well as a whole.

We would certainly welcome opportunities for further engagement with and support from the committee in respect of the conference into the future. We would certainly be happy for committee members to meet the conference organisers and see the venue and how we propose to shape it. If they have any ideas or suggestions, we would very much like to hear them. Although we are concentrating the conference all the time, people who are not involved in it might say this or that may be worthwhile, and such suggestions and ideas from committee members would be very helpful. Lastly, we would welcome their ideas also about how they might wish to interact with the conference.