Mr. Gerry Christie:

The closest thing to concluding has been made by Deputy Ó Cuív who I understand is not a permanent member of the committee. To recap on the issues, our goals include reversing the current funding split, which is one third from the State and two thirds from other sources. We want to see two thirds State funding and one third voluntary. We do not suggest the State pick up the whole bill; we are speaking of proportionality. We value our independence and community links. It is a question of readjusting.

Insurance is a real issue. Generally, in western Europe the agency that tasks the rescue teams - in our case the Garda or the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform - pays the insurance. That is the norm in western Europe. It would mean we would not have to go around making a case to Pobal or whoever was likely to listen to us. It is important to stress that. Finally, VAT is an issue. In fairness, Deputy Kyne asked a question on that in the House recently, to which the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, provided a two-page reply. I have read the reply many times and cannot make total sense of it. It is something we must make sense of pretty soon.

It was said that we have a passion for what we do. That is true. We are proud of that passion. The down-side of a passion is that one may look back retrospectively and consider that one was taken advantage of. I am not quite saying the cuckoo laid in one's nest, but it is a danger. I thank the committee for its time today.