225 Mr. Moynihan asked the Minister for the Environment if he will make a refund to Kerry County Council of the cost incurred by the county council in respect of the recent pollution threat to beaches off the Kerry coast.

Overall responsibility for dealing with all aspects of oil pollution of the sea and coastal areas, including the removal of oil from the coastline, has been assigned to the Minister for the Marine since 1988. Accordingly, there is no longer provision in my Department's Vote to enable recoupment of local authority expenditure on oil removal operations.