Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

Having said that, I wish to raise a number of issues which Opposition Senators should not confuse with support for the amendment. On the issue of local government funding, before selective amnesia affects us all the abolition of domestic rates featured in every manifesto preceding the general election in question. One wonders whether this was a good idea at the time and one can speculate about the potential size of the local authority budget for Sligo Corporation if it operated under the same conditions as its counterpart in Newry. We are certainly entitled to dream the council would be able to build inner relief roads from its own funds. Nevertheless, let us not kid ourselves that anyone will propose the reintroduction of domestic rates without receiving a direction to that effect from Europe.