Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

This is the kind of misleading nonsense that is going on.

I ask again, what is the timescale for the decentralisation that will go ahead? Will there be negotiations to ensure whatever transfers take place are voluntary? Last week the Taoiseach said that in an organisation with 100 staff and where 99 were moving, the fellow remaining could not expect to get promotion. Apart from the fact that it is the other way around, what does he mean by the fellow remaining behind cannot get promotion?

Has the Taoiseach put any halt to the gallop of the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Parlon, who, no more than himself, would say anything? Is the Minister of State still going around the country, acquiring property in the uncertain climate that the Taoiseach has created for the programme? Will the Taoiseach agree the people who work in the service of the Government deserve to know what the future holds for them? Does he have any regard to the damage done to the coherence of Government by the unique difference in this package of decentralisation that proposes to transfer the policy-making functions of Departments from Dublin city? Has any cost benefit analysis been conducted on the programme? Will we ever see any of the figures involved?

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