Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I support the programme of decentralisation but I am worried by the Minister of State's speech. He takes a very different view of decentralisation from that laid out by the Tánaiste in replies to parliamentary questions and speeches. He has said many of the gateway and hub towns are already significantly developed and seems to be indicating that these should not be considered for decentralisation. In an ideal world it would be great if we could shine a light on towns that have not prospered in recent years but if the decentralisation programme is to work, we must decentralise to towns where housing stock and transport are available and the infrastructure is in place. It might be ideal to pick the 20 most disadvantaged towns and decentralise offices of Departments to them but we must decentralise to areas where people will want to live. It would be pointless to decentralise offices of Departments to a town if the people who are to move there cannot build or buy a house and would have to travel 50 or 60 miles to work every morning. That would be recentralisation.

I hope the Minister of State is not serious when he indicates that gateway and hub towns will not be included in the decentralisation programme. When the national spatial strategy was announced, every indication was given at the most senior level of Government that we would focus on the gateway and hub towns for decentralisation. We must be realistic and accept that there cannot be an office of a Department in every town and village and must look at the towns that have the services in place, with housing and education facilities readily available. The Minister of State should not make the mistake of selecting towns for reasons of geography if services are not available – that would be a disaster. There should be a focus on the gateways and hubs and everyone will be happy because there will be strong regional decentralisation.