Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To directly answer the question with regard to insurance, no issues at all have been raised by local authorities with us in our engagement on this. By the way, I should have mentioned at the start that the last full year for which we have figures for the waiver is 2021 and the cost to local authorities was €589,000 across all 31 local authorities.

I do not believe it will change substantially, but I expect to have the 2022 full year returns very shortly. The waiver is worn by the local authorities. In that period, however, we have increased local authority funding quite substantially.

No issues have been raised by the local authority management sector or the LGMA with regard to insurance.

On storage, the preference is in-property storage. I agree with the Deputy. I have seen that where there is no in-property storage, the tables and chairs must be secured. In the main, however, the vast bulk will be stored in-property and on the premises. We still have some units where the car parking spaces were effectively handed over on a temporary basis by local authorities, let us say, on the street to provide additional outdoor facilities. I am glad to see that in many instances local authorities have retained many of them. They have retained many of the streets that were pedestrianised because it has worked for people. I am engaging with the local authorities on what we could do regarding the aesthetic look of some of them, which were quite temporary at the time, and whether there is anything we can do with businesses about more permanent structures. There will be planning issues with that, but they are on a temporary basis.

The question of accessibility is really important. Everyone will have to make a licence application anyway. The number and location of those tables and chairs is retained by each local authority. This speaks to the Chair's point. That encroachment or creep of furniture is something we do not want to see. We must make sure that accessibility is paramount in this and that where street furniture is put in place, it does not in any way inhibit those who might have mobility issues in passing by. Have we had any recent engagement with the disability sector? I have not, because these have rolled on year-on-year. However, we have been at pains to tell local authorities that, in their assessment of the licence applications, they ensure there is proper accessibility on a universal basis. They are monitored. I know from my own experience that it is monitored in Fingal County Council, which is the area I represent, and where there is encroachment outside of the licensed area, that is not permitted and those tables, chairs and other furniture would have to be removed. I hope that answered the three questions the Deputy raised.