Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

Given that I do not have a remit to look at policy matters, allocation decisions are generally not something that I address. In the context of the chapter on funding to local authorities and particularly the distribution of the 20% of LPT and so on, those kinds of decisions are fairly mechanical decisions once the principles are set. It would certainly be something that the committee might ask the Department to provide a note for it in advance of the meeting on how the allocations are done and how they ensure fairness because that would be the responsibility of the Department within policy parameters.