Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Does the Minister of State not consider an average cost of €430,000 an acre for decentralised sites to be an extraordinary price? Is the Government intent on driving up land prices in the 53 decentralisation locations, with knock-on consequences for local businesses and indeed for young people trying to buy houses in those areas?

The Minister has indicated that he now expects only 1,000 civil servants to be decentralised by the end of 2006. In a previous answer to me he indicated that only around 130 will be decentralised by the end of 2005. That indicates that to the end of 2005 decentralisation will have cost about €230,000 in site costs per civil servant moved. Is this not turning out to be one of the most costly exercises in the history of the State? I do not want to hear about a hut in Ladd Lane being sold for an extraordinary price. If the Minister of State gets good prices, that does not mean that he can go on a drunken sailor's spree as regards buying land in decentralisation locations throughout the State.

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