Mr. David Conway:

On behalf of the members of the Coach Tourism and Transport Council of Ireland, CTTC, I thank the Chair, Deputy Murphy, and the committee for inviting us to present here today and for providing us with an opportunity to discuss the very serious issues affecting commercial bus operators and their delivery of rural transport services in Ireland.

By way of introduction, my name is David Conway of FlightLink Limited. l am the Chairperson of the Coach Tourism and Transport Council of Ireland and I am joined by the vice-chairperson of the CTTC, Mr. Brendan Crowley of Wexford Bus, and executive committee member J.J. Kavanagh of JJ Kavanagh and Sons. I will now pass over to the vice-chair to deliver our opening statement.