WEll yes and No GSI.....Presently we do not have a Government and the Country`s fate is in the hands of the Council of State who will advise An tUachtarain on any difficult stuff that night spring up.

However the day to day running of the country continues under the able auspices to the established Civil Service.

Departmental Secretaries,Senior Administrative Officers and an assortment of other Higher CS grades all keep the wheels turning as they keep a wet finger elevated to see which way the political wind is blowing.

Now the funding for any new investment in the CIE group,although channelled through the Dept of Transport is ALWAYS within the gift of the Dept of FINANCE.

So securing the funding has absolutely Nothing to do with what it`s eventually spent on,or when that investment starts generating a return.

Aqua is quite correct in his summation of the current incredible situation whereby the Dept has refused to consider several BAC Licence related requests until the "Objection" process is resolved.

Oddly however it appears that once lodged,any objection then attains a life of its own rendering any Real Objection almost irrelevant.

The situation where the issuing authority refuses to divulge information on objectors is acting against the Public Interest and needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
One of the Basic Tenets of the "New" Civil Service relationship with the public is Transparency in all its dealings with the public.

This transparency is conspiciously absent from the Dept of Transport`s dealings with the Travelling Public....: )