Michael Brennan (Fianna Fail)

I, too, compliment the Minister of State and the staff of the Department on this legislation. I join previous speakers in complimenting the fire service. There is no doubt that it has an enormous amount of work to do. The Minister of State mentioned the figure of €136 million spent last year – money very well spent. We all appreciate the great strides the fire service has made at local authority level. I would like to see adequate finances made available to local authorities and the fire service in future years to implement this legislation.