Other than this naked political consideration, there is no excuse for not proceeding with full-scale decentralisation now. Modern IT and communications advances make it possible to transact business and deliver services as effectively in any provincial centre as from the heart of the capital. Departments already decentralised have proven this to be the case. Figures published recently indicate that the programme of moving civil servants out of Dublin is already over-subscribed. More than 18,000 applications have already been received, with 7,832 from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, 4,326 from the Department of Social and Family Affairs and 4,187 from the Department of Agriculture and Food. Despite the huge interest by public servants to move to the country, the Government has decided to long-finger and prevaricate. This is based on the clear calculation that it will be able to announce the good news for certain towns without having to say in the short term which town or public servants will not be part of the programme.