Mr. Michael Walsh:

We might not even agree on each issue, but let us see how this goes.

To address Deputy Harrington's questions, the three of us are engineers. We have been through the mill as area engineers. I was an area engineer in the 1980s when there was no money. Potholes and so on caused many sleepless nights. There were no resources. We are not quite at that point yet, but there is a risk of reaching it in three, four or five years. We have given our key message to the Government and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the officials of which share it. Indeed, the Minister also shares it on balance. In terms of Exchequer funding, the question is how to cut the cake at national level. I understand that the Department shares our opinion, in that the current level of funding is probably only 50% of what is required to maintain the road network. This situation is tolerable for one, two or three years, but there will come a transition to the doomsday scenario described by Senator Mooney, after which the curve in terms of the amount of money needed to recover will increase. This risk must be addressed in the next year or two if we are not to create a negative demand scenario.