Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I never said decentralisation was a bad idea. Decentralisation cannot be judged solely on whether there are staff who are willing to decentralise to certain offices and whether they are happy when they do so. I have no doubt they are. No doubt, there are staff who want to relocate to other locations and there are staff who are very happy when they do so. That is not the issue. The issue here is whether in the new climate in which we find ourselves the Government's decentralisation plan, which as I understand it has not been changed from a policy point of view since it was announced by the then Minister, Mr. McCreevy, represents value for money for the public, which is paying for it. The projected cost of the entire decentralisation plan is approximately €900 million. I suggest that in the new circumstances in which we find ourselves, where, as we were told today, there has been a turnaround of approximately €10 billion in Government finances, it is not a good idea to proceed with spending €900 million in relocating civil and public servants all over the country, particularly in circumstances where there will be a continuing cost to the public purse for civil servants travelling this way to one meeting and that way to another and meeting each other half way along the road.

The OECD may not have criticised the decentralisation proposal, but it is interesting that it was not asked to comment on it. However, it volunteered a comment, one which is not complimentary about the plans being put through. It says that in some areas of the public service that are to be decentralised, in order for the decentralisation to be effective it will be necessary to have a 90% change in the staff. By implication, it suggests that will be bad for delivery of the service. Everybody knows, particularly with regard to specialised areas in State agencies or the Civil Service, that if it is necessary to have a 90% turnover in people dealing with a particular service, there will be, at the very least, a disruption in the quality of service being delivered to the public, on top of the cost incurred in trying to achieve decentralisation. The Taoiseach has received the OECD report that comments on decentralisation plans. The Taoiseach may not agree with my take on decentralisation. Is the Government conducting a review of the decentralisation plan or is this the same plan as that announced originally by the former Minister, Charlie McCreevy?

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