Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

Maybe the Senators opposite want to engage in pantomime. Senator Bannon also talked about the money that is allocated to local authorities. I will remind the House of a couple of things. In 1997 the local government fund contributed €339 million to local authorities through rate support grant and the equalisation fund. This year the figure was €875 million, which even by Senator Bannon's warped view of economics is a significant increase.