Mr. Ray O'Leary:

It is an acknowledgement that the standards for road surfaces reflect their usage by cyclists and our existing mechanical vehicles. We acknowledge that we are still trying to get back to the stage where we can fund local authorities in meeting their obligations, where they need support from central Government. That is not the case for the Dublin authorities. There is a challenge. The National Oversight and Audit Commission has highlighted this in respect of local authorities and we do not pretend other than that we are making our way back to a stage where we can maintain the existing infrastructure. This is our great challenge. What some of my colleagues call "steady state" or what I would call "asset protection" is one of our great challenges. In doing that we have a standard already if we are to try to maintain an asset for a much more delicate instrument that has further resource implications. Often what seems a simple question can lead to other challenging ones if it is thought of in the round.