Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Some €33 million of the €45 million is contractually committed this year, which is not unusual. Many of these big schemes would be carried out over a two to three year window. The drawdown would very much depend on how the contract is governed. In my speech I set out the major capital programmes where we will see progress this year. It is a rolling programme and, as the Deputy knows from his time in government, some of these projects can take some years. Some €33 million of the €45 million is contractually committed. We will need to wait and see if that is the amount actually drawn down on each of those schemes.

The Deputy asked the fundamental question of where our responsibility lies. Under the Arterial Drainage Act 1945 we are responsible for all arterial drainage schemes. That is our responsibility. I was in County Clare and saw a scheme in the Shannon Estuary which we had been maintaining. Because they had been maintained by us, the lands for the farmers were of a very good quality. In the areas that fell under the Land Commission, however, as the Deputy would know, there had been significant breaches. That water is still there and making it impossible for the farmers to get any kind of yield. I understand that more than 200 km of Land Commission embankments throughout the country - especially in the west - are funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I understand there is still a Land Commission and I believe its funding for maintenance is quite low. If tomorrow morning the Minister, Deputy Howlin, gave me funding of €220 million, we could resolve all those problems at one level, but we would have to maintain them, so it is a wider responsibility.

Technically, we are only responsible for the arterial drainage schemes and, of course, where we have made a major capital investment in recent years, we would take responsibility for maintaining those. They include the bigger ones in Kilkenny, Clonmel and other parts of the country.

What was the Deputy's third question?