John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

The two issues which jump off the pages of the budget are decentralisation, the announcement of which we were not expecting today, and the raising of the minimum retirement age to 65, referred to earlier by Senator O'Toole. Those are the two smokescreens which have been raised by the Minister in front of his budget in an attempt to deflect attention from how little is contained therein.

Senators have referred to decentralisation. Five years ago, we were promised action on decentralisation and it is convenient that, six months before the local elections, the Minister should today announce details of places and numbers of posts to be filled. However, just €20 million has been allocated for the redistribution of these jobs which means nothing will happen next year. Nevertheless, Government candidates in places like Birr and elsewhere will be able to take credit for the decentralised jobs when nothing will happen for the foreseeable future. There is no timeframe for today's announcement. While we all welcome the idea of decentralisation about which Senator Ross spoke strongly, it has dragged on for far too long and we are still left with vague promises about numbers without any commitment to a timetable for implementation. It is about time we got such promises.

The public service retirement age has been raised to 65 years, about which I share Senator O'Toole's concerns. However, I agree with much of what Senator Ross said, although I was surprised by his comment that the Minister for Finance does not want any more pay deals. Perhaps he knows something the rest of us do not.