Mr. Dermot O'Leary:

On the role of the Department, its fingerprints are all over the crime scene. It is akin to a young kid lighting a gorse fire and running off. Thankfully, the helpful leak of the Grant Thornton report gave us knowledge about the role of the Department. It has been all over this for the past 18 months. The Department asked the company to produce report after report, three in total. The context is important here. It asked the company to come up with solutions to the Bus Éireann and Expressway crisis to avoid large-scale industrial unrest. That was the remit the company was given.

Some 18 months later we are facing into that large-scale industrial unrest. Something happened in between. There was the small matter of a general election and the kicking of the can down the road. I accuse directly the Department of being involved in that scenario. It is all over this and it has a responsibility. As long as I am breathing and my colleagues are representing people, I will not let the Department off the hook on that responsibility.

Of course, the NTA has rejected licences. It is its job to do so. That is not the issue, however. The issue is what licences it has approved. I made the point in my submission that it has issued five licences on the motorway network for Dublin-Cork, Dublin-Waterford and Dublin-Limerick while amending three. For those five, plus the three amended, 104 extra services appeared on those routes. That is madness and is just not sustainable.

On rural Ireland and connectivity, there are 3,000 Expressway services a week in this country. A map of Ireland shows how this service goes into every nook and cranny of this country. Without that connectivity, a minibus will not solve the problem or replace the 54-seater coach. As I said in my submission, why the hell should rural Ireland citizens be treated any differently from those who want to live in urban centres?