Mr. Hugh Creegan:

Our Leap system, which is at the core of our ticketing system, was introduced in 2011, 14 years ago. It was designed ahead of that so it is virtually two decades old now. We can all imagine how much technology has moved on in the intervening period. We are going to replace it. We have contracted with a Spanish company called Indra, which has done these systems elsewhere and it is working on this project at the moment. It is a big project that involves not just IT but hardware. There are 2,500 buses and a myriad of validators at stations, and so on, that will have to be enabled to operate with the new system while still running the old one. The real challenge is keeping the old system going while the new system is introduced. That company is working away on it and it will be a couple of years before it gets rolled out, but it is being done as fast as we can do it. It is being arranged in a way that we are future-proofed for a good many years to come. It uses technologies that are not yet widely deployed. I am not sure of the right term, but it will not be necessary to tap on as the system will recognise the mobile phone in your pocket and validate you through that process. The system will be future-proofed to allow that to come on board afterwards. I hope we will end up with a very robust system that is the foundation here in Ireland for a good many years to come.