Mr. Robert Watt:

As the local government system is part of the general Government sector, there are limits on local authorities' new borrowings or the reduction in their cash balance where they do have cash balances. As they contribute to the general Government deficit, for Maastricht reporting reasons there is a limit of about €200 million on the addition to the general Government deficit that the local authority sector can engage in. That was put in place in 2009 when the financial emergency began. There is a constraint on their ability to borrow because of the financial situation they face. As the Deputy is aware, local authorities have reduced staff numbers dramatically and have reduced their costs more than the wider public sector has done. I have no doubt that their ability to raise funds is impacting on their ability to draw down-----