Mr. Eddie Taaffe:

Heretofore, local authorities could only recoup costs after stage 1 was approved. A stage 1 application would be submitted in some cases without having done a detailed site investigation, and it would be done afterwards. One of the changes requested by local authorities would be that they could be funded in advance of submitting a stage 1 application and the Department has agreed. We now do the site surveys and site investigations before even putting in a feasibility study, as they better inform the feasibility study early on. That is a positive change that we welcome.