Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

This is a complex problem and it deserves the Taoiseach's address. The Taoiseach provided some figures in his initial reply. Is he in a position to provide an estimate of the number of people who will be transferred from other Departments to his Department and vice versa? Will it be an exodus? In the review have people expressed an interest in transferring to his Department? Has he any idea at this stage about the degree of flow in and out of his Department?

As regards the numbers of people involved in his Department and across the remainder of the spectrum, does the Taoiseach share the concerns of other Deputies that we are seeing the relocation of people in peripheral towns to the city of Dublin? Would he agree that this is not a decentralisation programme in real terms, particularly when one considers the position of Naas, Kildare and Drogheda which all act, perhaps, as dormitory towns for Dublin, that decentralisation to these towns means that people already domiciled in Dublin do not have to relocate at all and that we will not see real and substantial benefits for them or for communities beyond which would have benefited——

See this speech in context