Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

There is enough salt to cater for anything that could happen over the next few days. The way this works is that the salt is brought in over time as needed. The contract last year was for 60,000 tonnes, which had been more than adequate every year for decades before that. Stockpiles are maintained but the salt is generally bought as needed over time. There is not a great deal of sense in stockpiling the 80,000 tonnes of salt in case it is not needed. It does not keep well from year to year. That is the method used in providing the stockpiles but the contract is for 80,000 tonnes. The difficulty that arose last year in many respects was we were reaching our 60,000 tonnes limit, there was a need for salt elsewhere and we faced competition. Cork County Council had its own supply and it was asked to make salt available. The same happened in one or two other local authorities and if the Deputy wants to refer back to the blacks, he will see that I said that individual local authorities had to be helped by other local authorities. That is why the NRA came in to organise it. That is why we are now suggesting that the NRA should continue that in one form or another.

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