Mr. Robert Morton:

Parts of County Laois are well supported by neighbouring areas. Graiguecullen in the south east, for example, is well supported by County Carlow. Roscrea supports the south-west to some extent. Certainly, there is a need to look at services in the Portarlington and north Laois area. We are examining that at the moment. We are looking at the area that was the M8 corridor down to Durrow and Cullahill. We are currently working with Kilkenny County Council to procure the old fire station in Urlingford with a view to setting up an emergency dispatch point that would then service what was the old N8 corridor; places like Cullahill across to Castlecomer and Durrow and areas that are not particularly well-served by Portlaoise. It is quite a distance away in the event of an emergency. That is what we are working on at the minute.