On the same matter, is it possible for the Government to put in place a proper strategic plan to assist the farming communities and rural dwellers? As the two previous speakers stated, many people in rural areas have been absolutely decimated. There does not seem to be any cohesion or strategic planning to work with county councils, NGOs and the voluntary sector regarding simple things such as salting bins and contracting local farmers with heavy machinery to assist in particular areas. Surely we can come up with a better plan than this. Surely we can assist everybody in the country. There is a big place in Ireland and it is not called Dublin. There is another part of Ireland also.

I call Deputies Casey and Nolan on the same matter.

I want to put on record my thanks to the emergency services for their work over recent days. What Deputy Brady said about west Wicklow is correct; there are still people isolated there today. However, I want to relate to the House something that happened last night when two teams of the Civil Defence from Dublin and Wicklow went to a house in west Wicklow to provide assistance. When they eventually got there at 6.30 p.m., the roadway had been cleared, the boiler the people in the house claimed was out of commission was working and the sticks they could not get out of the shed were in the house. What they requested when the members of the Civil Defence knocked on the door was another bottle of whiskey.

Do not downplay the emergencies out there.

Please, Deputy.

I know there are emergencies but people are abusing-----

I do not think that is the right way to raise issues of this nature.

On the issue of rural communities being left behind, there will be a lot more damage done to our roads and I ask for an emergency fund to be put in place. There is much talk about road safety. If we are serious about road safety, come to Offaly, Laois, Tipperary or any county any day. Some of the potholes are horrendous. It makes a joke and mockery of road safety.

I commend the emergency services and the local authorities, which did a fantastic job, as did the farming community. We must bear in mind that the farming community suffered a lot of damage also and I am of the view that it will also be necessary to put in place a fund for it.

I concur with the points raised by others. I acknowledge the tremendous response from the emergency services and the co-ordination nationally of those services. For the first time in our history, we were able to put together a response to a major disaster of this nature and it worked extremely well. Of course, we can learn from it. There is provision to make an application for disaster funds from the European Union and I ask that the Government might co-ordinate its efforts in this regard, with particular reference to those who suffered damage to stock and buildings that is not covered by insurance.