To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-26119 by Tavish Scott on 13 June 2006, whether it considers that, in the absence of a public service obligation, the subsidy to ferry services on the Tarbert to Portavadie and Gourock to Dunoon routes and elsewhere on the Clyde and Hebrides network can be justified under EC law or whether it considers that the subsidy to such services would be ruled as illegal state aid, given that Article 4.2 of the EC Maritime Cabotage Regulations 1992 states that compensation could be paid for public service obligations. The Executive plans...