asked the Minister for Tourism and Transport the management fee paid to Zeus consultants in respect of the B & I Line; the date of the commencement of the operation; and the planned expiry date.

The fee payable to Zeus Management Limited in respect of the consultancy services provided to the B & I Line plc. amounts to £250,000 plus VAT (at 25 per cent) in respect of the three-year period from 6 May 1985 to 5 May 1988.

In the light of the Minister's answer and in the present circumstances surrounding the B & I operation, does the Minister consider that the Government have saved themselves considerably more money by the level of this type of investment in Zeus Consultants to run the company, as it would appear at this stage that their objective has not been achieved? What are the options facing the company? Does the Minister intend that this agreement will see its way through to 5 May 1988?

The overall cost that I gave is less what the chief executive and chairman of the company would have been paid anyway in the normal course of events which is, I suppose, to be deduced from that. It is a substantial expenditure, an amount fixed by my predecessor to try to deal with the very difficult circumstances that arose in the B & I. It is a difficult thing to assess whether this has been successful or not. Again, as we mentioned with regard to the funding of Aer Lingus, there are many variables and it would be beyond the wit of man to determine whether there has been a financial improvement as a result of this, or whether there has not. In the absence of the Zeus operation, we have no way of knowing whether it would be better or worse. That is what the Deputy is trying to get at. I am afraid that I would not be able to answer that query straight out. It is a very substantial investment in the management of the company.

The Minister would seem to have certain reservations with regard to how the operation has gone up to the present. In the light of the further investment of £8 million into the company, would the Minister not consider, in the best interests of all concerned, seriously looking at the option of trying to privatise the company, in that it would be the best possible deal for the taxpayers and the Irish people who have pumped an enormous amount of money into this company? Quite clearly it has not worked up to date. Other options must be looked at. Is it now the Minister's intention that, come the end of the tourist season, these hard facts will be put to the company and to the people involved and a decision taken possibly to privatise it?

The Deputy is now extending the scope of his question.

The fact is that the hard facts, as the Deputy calls them, have already been put by me to both management and unions. I reiterate what I have said already, namely, that both management and unions expressed themselves committed to a policy of reorganising B & I in such a way that they would come up with a proposition to make the company viable and by viable in my simple language I mean a profit-making company.