Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Rabbitte asked if there was any pulling back from the commitment to move 10,300 civil servants to 53 centres in 25 counties. The answer is "no". The Government is committed to doing that and is working with all the expertise on the implementation group and various people are helping in different areas to achieve that. I am sure the Minister responsible will answer questions on the report of the Committee on Finance and the Public Service.

I have heard all these arguments before — as one gets older one hears the same old nonsense. I remember listening to arguments that Revenue could not be decentralised to Nenagh or the section of the Department dealing with widows could not be located in Sligo, that the world would fall apart.

See this speech in context