Mr. Keith Walsh:

The legislative change that is required to the Roads Act 1993 is included in the NVDF Bill, which at drafting stage at the moment and is on the priority list for drafting in this legislative term. I cannot speak to exactly why the change came about. I know the RSA and the Department have made efforts to look at interim solutions or at ways in which the information could continue to be shared, but the local authority sector is adamant it does not have the legal basis for it to receive the data and process it. As an interim solution, the Department receives the information from the RSA, does analysis of it and shares that high-level analysis with the local authorities, and that is continuing. It is not that the local authorities are fully blind on this. Obviously, it would be better if they had the data themselves and could do the analysis themselves, but they are in receipt of information from the Department and on top of that the Department funds a programme of road investment work based on the locations identified through that.