Mr. Brendan Crowley:

The language used in our opening statement around the VAT 71 relief refers to low-floor buses so they are wheelchair accessible and look after mobility-impaired people. The Senator asked about the NTA and licensing; it is important to remember that as far back as 2018 and 2019 we had discussions with the NTA about accessibility on buses and coaches. The NTA commissioned a study to look at how to do this and how to roll it out. The idea was that a percentage of the fleet would have to be converted in accordance with a range of increments and ultimately licences would depend upon that. In fairness, Covid meant that operators would not have been able to soak up the cost of that. Unfortunately, in answer to the Senator's question, there is no funding from the State at present to support commercial operators. As our colleagues from Bus Éireann pointed out, with the PSO services all of those buses are provided courtesy of the State. From a commercial bus operator's perspective the operator must provide that vehicle, must pay the VAT and pay everything on top of that.