asked the Minister for the Environment if the data from the SCRIM machine tests on the road surfaces are to be published as an aid to road safety.

The results of tests carried out by An Foras Forbartha using the sideways co-efficient routine investigation machine are supplied to each road authority for roads measured in their administrative area. The Deputy will appreciate that these results are not regarded as definitive values of skid resistance but, instead, their value lies largely in their use on a comparative basis for the technical assessment of priorities in road maintenance. I am advised, accordingly, that no useful purpose would be served by extending the existing circulation of the SCRIM results.