Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)

The Minister's early mover costs are running in the region of €47 million for sites alone. Taking the projected number of early movers it will cost approximately €12,000 per person per site. Is that not a major expense to move people from Dublin to provincial locations? Projecting that further, on the basis of the costs provided by the Minister of State and the final cost, it will cost approximately €90,000 per person to relocate people from Dublin to a provincial setting. Is that not a significant cost?

The Minister referred to the disposal of property held in the city. To date no property has been disposed of in respect of decentralisation. Will the Minister explain why? How does he reconcile the expenditure of €47 million on purchasing sites when only one in six of the early movers is anxious to move to those locations? How can he proceed to purchase property and bring developers on site to start building offices that will cost approximately €90,000 per person when only one in six of those people has indicated he or she is prepared to move there?

The Minister has not responded to the nub of the question, namely, how much Departments have estimated it will cost them to decentralise. No table has been produced with that information, yet IMPACT has recently asked that the Minister produce those costings on a departmental basis. Why has he not done so?

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