asked the Minister for Local Government if he will state in respect of the last decade (a) the total expenditure by local authorities on roads and bridges; (b) the total annual allocation by his Department to local authorities for roads and bridges; and (b) as a percentage of (a).

As the reply is in the form of a tabular statement, I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to circulate it with the Official Report.

Following is the statement:

The figure for 1970-71 is based on (1) the Grants allocated to Local Authorities and (2) the rates provision by each Local Authority in that year.