Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

To what extent is age a factor in the comparative reluctance of senior civil servants to participate in the decentralisation programme? Such people are older, by definition, and are more likely to have families. They need to consider of all sorts of factors, such as the availability of third level education facilities. Has the Government examined why senior civil servants do not want to decentralise? I presume they are concerned about the career implications of decentralisation.

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