Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)

The Minister has set out all the reasons for the delay in the decentralisation programme and I accept much of what he has said, such as that the three-year timeframe was far too ambitious, the difficulties that have arisen and so on, but he has not answered the core question. The Taoiseach told the Dáil that the core policy groups of decentralising Departments would not be moving. Was he wrong or is the Minister wrong?

The only people to whom the Minister has referred are the small secretarial back-up groups that will be required for a Minister to do his or her Dáil business. For example, the Minister has indicated that the only group to remain when the Department of Education and Science decentralises will be a secretarial back-up. Is the Minister wrong when he says Departments will fully decentralise or was the Taoiseach wrong when he told the House that core policy groups will remain in Dublin?

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