Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Boyle misunderstands fundamentally one aspect of CLÁR, that is, that CLÁR provides money to accelerate existing programmes and does not make up new rules for the main schemes. The people who lay down the rules for LIS are the officials of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. They give lumps of money to local authorities to carry out LIS and give directions on how projects should be selected. We operate the exact same rules — we cannot operate to any other rules. In the final analysis, it is up to the local authority, which is a public body in its own right, and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to ensure that this represents value for money.

The selection of the roads is a matter for the county council but it does so according to the guidelines of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. They are the exact same guidelines that apply when the same county council is undertaking LIS road works with money provided by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and my understanding is that the reporting arrangements would be the same.

In our case, we get a list of roads and the amount of money to be spent on each road. The method of calculating the cost and the amount of roads done are the exact same ones used by that local authority in spending the money of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and the exact same criteria is applied.

Téann muid ó thaobh amháin go taobh eile. We go from one extreme to the other. We can spend all our time doing economic assessments, but there are certain things in this life one does because they need doing. I do not care, within reason, what it costs where there is a widow living in a house on an impassable road. Although there is economic analysis, at the end of the day one either makes up one's mind that one will repair the road. What happens if the economic appraisal advises not to repair the road? I do not think any of us would leave the widow in that situation.

It is important that criteria are laid down for schemes. I firmly believe in ensuring value for money and a high standard of work from local authorities. While, no doubt, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government ensures this is done, the one great brake on irresponsible LIS spending is that the local people must make a contribution, of 10% in some cases and 15% in others cases. Local people would not spend 10% of the cost of repairing a road which is not of major benefit to them and, therefore, the scheme is inherently sound in value for money terms.

For those of us who live in rural parts of the country, the amounts of money involved are tiny compared to the benefit to be got from scéim na mbóithre áise and the LIS. As a rural Deputy, the generality of these schemes represent fantastic value for money and they are a small part of public infrastructure towards which there is a direct local contribution. I know of no other roads towards which one is obliged to make a direct local contribution.

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