Mr. Fred Barry:

We need to perform the proper motorway maintenance. We have flagged and are saying publicly that the funding for rehabilitation work on the road network generally this year is below a sustainable long-term level. We can live with it this year. Undoubtedly, by the end of the year some work will not be done in various places around the country that would have been better done this year and it will be pushed out to next year. However, if that happens for one year, that is not the end of the world. Given all the cuts taking place across the State sector, we do not think we are being harshly treated but we are flagging that if we were to go through several years of under-funding in rehabilitation and maintenance work, the ultimate cost of doing that work will greatly exceed what it would have cost if it had been done in a timely manner.