Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I have a quick follow-up question. From my time as a councillor, I am aware that when it comes to reacting to severe weather events, it is important to know if funding will be available when making decisions. The costs of engaging in some responses can be significant and sometimes a delay arises. When I was a local councillor we always provided for winter maintenance in the budget. Sometimes we would have a good year and the allocation would not be used. Is there a case to be made for the winter maintenance budget to be ring-fenced and kept? This goes back to the idea of use it or lose it, which is madness. I always felt that the winter maintenance fund should be rolled over if it was not used. The local authority would have money in reserve and when a severe weather event hit, it would have the resources needed to call in the emergency services and whatever extra expenditure it needed.