Mr. Paul Lemass:

To correct the point about 2000, the needs and resources model introduced in 2000 ran for eight years. There would have been an annual process over those years. The most recent year for which the needs and resources model would have operated would have been 2008. Thereafter, general purpose grants evolved, more or less guided by the needs and resources model, but it was felt generally by the sector that it was extremely cumbersome to be monitoring 600 financial indicators every year to decide on their appropriateness. There were also local factors that made it very hard to compare. The maintenance of a kilometre of road in a boggy area is very different from the maintenance of a piece of road in an area where the land is not boggy. It became very challenging to maintain this system.

In 2014, there was the transition to the LPT. I highlight that because the general purpose grant, now the LPT allocation, is within the broad framework, the legislative base, of the local property tax legislation which is the responsibility of the Department of Finance. There is, however, an intention in that Department to act on the findings of the Thornhill report which will consider how allocations are made and how LPT is calculated, and we will be part of that process. The Minister is on record as saying that process will take place in 2018.