Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is not directed at Mr. O'Toole or FÁS because I know they were following a policy and were instructed by a Minister of the day to do so. To implement the decentralisation policy, 17 people were put in an office in Birr at a rent of €100,000 a year and a site for €1.5 million was bought which is now worth €150,000. Five years into the lease it was broken, leading to a capital write-off of approximately €1 million in 2012 and the policy was ended. This seems to be an extraordinary waste of money for no benefit and a policy which was questionable from the outset. I understand FÁS was under instruction at the time to implement the policy but it seems an extraordinary waste of resources.