Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Some people believe that decentralisation will be good for one's career. The tenor of the question asked by Deputy Boyle was that staying in Dublin might not be so good for one's career because when promotion opportunities arise there, few people will apply for many places. I think the tenor of the Deputy's question was that one's chances of promotion will be much better if one decentralises.

I sometimes think we can over-analyse the obvious. It is obvious that it is much easier for young people from the country, who may have been working in the public service in Dublin for three or four years and may not have a partner or a family, to participate in the decentralisation programme. All they have to do is ask themselves whether they want to move. People who have been settled here for 25 years need to consider other implications, however. They might have a house, a partner with a job in Dublin and a teenage family attending various schools. The answer to Deputy O'Shea's question is self-evident.

It is obvious that we must take every individual case as it comes. The global reasons for the higher take-up in the lower ranks are obvious. There are other factors which will facilitate the decentralisation programme when we begin to implement it. Such factors will make the implementation of the programme much easier than most people expect it to be. I am confident that progress can be made if we pursue the programme judiciously and sensitively. We are examining the options. A committee has been established in the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to try to facilitate as smooth a transition as possible. I do not doubt that all the positions will be filled when the time comes.

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