Mr. John McCarthy:

It is covered by the same issue I mentioned earlier in response to Deputy Cassells. There is a slice of the general Government balance that is assigned to the local government sector and has to remain broadly in a neutral space.

That means that the local government system can only undertake new borrowing or spend down capital balances to the extent that it is matched on the other side. That does not necessarily operate within each local authority. We would go through a process to try to establish the plans of all local authorities and then try to apportion the available space, prioritising matters such as capital investment and housing.