Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I remind the Minister that the word "quango" means a "quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation". From his answer, it appears that decentralisation will be decided upon by such a body. The implementation group is, effectively, a quango which will report back to the Minister.

The Labour Party has asked, on an all-party basis — I believe Fine Gael has agreed — that there would be a complete audit and review of the standing of the decentralisation programme. There is a large element of agreement among the parties in this House that decentralisation, properly managed, can be good for the economy. The shambles we have, however, is extremely costly. It was affordable when the Celtic Tiger era was at its peak and money could be blown hither and thither.

The Minister spoke about the necessity for people to make judicious assessments of spending. Completion of decentralisation is conservatively estimated to cost some billions of euro extra. Will the Minister review the programme on an all-party basis so that there can be value for money? That would be true decentralisation rather than the re-location proposed in the Minister's programme.

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