Mr. John McCarthy:

The local government fund is a construct that started in 1999 at a time when motor tax was paid into the fund. It was largely going to be used for the roads programme which was part of our Department at that stage, going back however many years ago that was. It has since evolved into a broader fund into which both motor tax and local property tax proceeds now go. The local property tax proceeds are recycled back to local authorities and the motor tax proceeds dimension is used to fund a range of things, including the subvention to Irish Water and including a payment back to the Exchequer.