Mr. Tomás Ó Ruairc:

I will focus on some of the operational complexities. It is an interesting insight. We will be on the receiving end of whatever comes in once those rules are relaxed. The first question we are always keen to deal with in the dialogue is if we relax the 2 km, do we have a good knowledge of what the level of demand could be? If we do it, we need to know if 200 are going to present for a bus instead of 20 and if we will be able to handle that number. The value of the pilots in the first instance is to try to advance this understanding. We heard about Sixmilebridge being progressed. The operational understanding for us was really important. We had a route there that went from roughly 200 using the service to about 450 presenting on the Monday morning. It was quite significant in terms of the scale of the uplift needed. We then had to ensure we could get the drivers and buses.

Equally, though, we heard mention made of stops. The questions in this regard included where these children were going to meet, how we were going to congregate them and how we were going to supervise them so everybody would be able to do it. Regarding all those additional aspects the Deputy and Cathaoirleach spoke about, we had to supervise all those processes to ensure the service was still going to be delivered safely. I guess what we have is not so much even trying to work out the costs and the resources there, but, ultimately, if we can deliver the service, and deliver it safely, and if the infrastructure is behind it. Equally, when those buses arrive into the school, can the school accommodate the number of buses that might be arriving? There are things in the pilots that are very helpful for all of us to tease out and work through with the Department in respect of our understanding. That informs the next step forward.