That said, the track record of this Government in contributing resources to local government stands up to the closest scrutiny. This year, some €593 million has been allocated to local authorities from the local government fund in general purpose grants. That is an increase of 75% in five years and an increase of 10% over the 2001 baseline allocations. This House should acknowledge the scale of this achievement and the extent to which it has contributed to putting local government on a sound financial footing, perhaps for the first time in very many years.