Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I refer to page 7, in the second last paragraph. We are aware that the public service obligation, PSO, for the free travel scheme has been capped for nine years at €51.6 million. The National Transport Authority also states that it understands that increases were paid to commercial operators. Can the committee write to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to find out exactly what is paid and who the contractors are? We know that over the years, when Bus Éireann was in huge financial difficulties it had to subsidise the difference, which put the company into even further financial difficulty. Bus Éireann had to subsidise the difference between the Government-awarded funding for the free travel scheme and the actual cost. Perhaps we could find out who is getting what and how much the operators are getting from the Department.

It is important to establish if the public transport service operators are being put at a distinct disadvantage. Even with some of the private operators, they are not compelled to have disability access, while public transport operators are and rightly so. It will be interesting to see if they are being awarded more in funding under the free travel scheme.