Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

What is the Minister's understanding of the status of the locations? I believe that 29 of the 53 locations are included in one of the first three phases. I also understand that the chairman of the group has said that some of those proposals are simply not feasible, do not hold water and cannot proceed. Has the Government completely washed its hands of responsibility for the promises it made and whether they should be delivered? Now the Minister says that they are to be administered through some bureaucratic group at arm's length from the politicians. He tells us that we should value our own role but appears to wish to push decentralisation as far away as possible from himself.

I wish to inquire further about the first few phases. The difficulty appears to be that 60% of those moving in the first phase are doing so within the Dublin commuter belt. That does not seem to gel with the Minister's target for decentralisation. The second feature is that in 11 of the 14 locations in the first phase, the majority of those moving are not coming from Dublin. That does not gel with the Minister's aim either, which was to reduce the pressure on Dublin and promote regional development. Is the new bureaucratic system that the Minister has set up in accordance with what the Government is trying to achieve? It appears superficially very different. When will the Government account to the House for what it is doing instead of hiding behind Mr. Flynn's group?

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