Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

Senator Bannon entered the House with one objective in mind, namely, to filibuster on this issue. I am prepared to come here at any time to debate this in a logical and civilised way. However, I am not prepared to be heckled by Senator Bannon and will deal in due course with the series of untrue statements he made.

Local authority programmes have benefited substantially from transfers of capital funds from the Exchequer and the establishment of the local government fund under the Local Government Act 1998 provided for a buoyant source of finance. The fund, into which the proceeds of motor tax and an increasing Exchequer contribution are paid, now accounts for some 30% of current expenditure by local authorities and enables me to channel significant funding annually to local authorities by way of general purpose grants. General purpose grant allocations from the fund increased from €236 million in 1994 to €339 million in 1997 and to €875 million in 2006.