Mr. Martin Nolan:

No. The drivers are all trained to a standard where they do not take chances. Our drivers are trained to that standard as well. When there is a major red event, we do not travel, but when it goes down to yellow or even further, the driver has to drive according to conditions and if he feels it is unsafe, he does not operate. As members know in rural Ireland, in some places one cannot prejudge it as on one side of a hill there is black ice and the other side of the hill is different. I do not have any evidence of that.

The result of the tendering process last year was that 3% of the people who tendered did not get their contracts renewed, but half of them got different contracts so at the end of the day 1.5% of the people did not remain in the scheme. As the Deputy said, there were some problems around the washing of the vehicles, so we have reviewed that in the new tender documentation. We listen to what is going on.