Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

It is more than a coincidence. In 1992 I asked the then Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, to give us something for Roscommon. He gave us 50 jobs in the Department of Health and Children's general register office. Unfortunately, that decision was only implemented in 2003 after my return to the Oireachtas. The opening was attended by the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, and the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, representing the Office of Public Works. It looked very good on the day and while they were very tight-lipped, we know they were impressed by the support given to the general register office for deaths, births and marriages. We will now have a further 230 jobs along with all the ancillary work in building and equipping that development. I offer my gratitude to the Government.

It is a great day for the Fianna Fáil majority and the Progressive Democrats who are working extremely well in Government implementing this policy. No Government in the history of the State has decentralised 10,500 jobs to the regions. This will be implemented within three years. In the lifetime of the Government, all this work will be completed and the staff will be in place. We will have the headquarters of the Department of Education and Science in Mullingar, the Department of Agriculture and Food in Portlaoise and the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in Cavan. In excess of 100 jobs will be decentralised to Ballinasloe, with 130 jobs going to Longford. Carrick-on-Shannon fought hard and will get 265 jobs. This is thanks to Oireachtas Members like Deputy Ellis and Senator Mooney, who have been fighting for a long time and have now succeeded.