Ms Geraldine Tallon:

We think that, in all cases, debt is manageable in local government. There are a number of areas where there is accumulated debt but one can see on an annual basis that it is being eaten into because there have been very active debt-management and cost-reduction strategies put in place. As I identified earlier, there was €830 million in savings in the local government system over the past couple of years and a very dramatic reduction in the staffing number. That is helping to contain costs. The local government reform programme will have further cost containment associated with it. The shared services programme that we are engaged with is designed to increase efficiency and contain costs. Therefore, there are a number of different strands to what we are doing that will change the financial situation from authorities' points of view. However, in a couple of cases, there is accumulated debt that we need to be conscious of.