Mr. John McCarthy:

On that issue, maybe to take a step back, in terms of the way the system operates at the moment and how LPT is allocated, as the Deputy says, there is 80% local retention and 20% goes to an equalisation fund. The purpose of the equalisation, as the Deputy well knows, is to ensure that those local authorities that have low LPT bases are brought up to what is called their baseline. However, even as the system stands at the moment, not enough LPT proceeds are derived from that 20% to get to that position for all of the financially weaker local authorities. As things stand at the moment the Exchequer is making a contribution to that pot. In future - these are conversations we have regularly with local authorities - if the pot remains as it is and some local authorities are to gain through an exercise of redistribution, inevitably that means that other local authorities would actually lose. What emerges from the LPT review, obviously if there are issues for Government to consider around whether there are implications for the level of additional Exchequer funding that needs to go in, those are decisions that would have to be made at that time.