Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Within Departments there will be certain assessments or views as matters stand in regard to issues but the Government has brought forward this initiative. We are committed to it. Previous coalition Governments, in which Fine Gael and Labour were involved, halted the decentralisation programmes and then cancelled them. When we returned to office in 1987 we reactivated them with great success. Far from compromising the effectiveness of the service, it has been a very good innovation within the service.

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