Ann Ormonde (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Treacy, to the House. I endorse the motion before the House. I am happy to outline why I feel that the proposed programme of decentralisation is the best way forward.

I live in Dublin. I travelled to Bray at 8 a.m. the other day, but the return journey, at 8.45 a.m., nearly did my head in. I had time to do a great deal of thinking, because the journey from Bray to the centre of town took an hour and a half. I immediately started to wonder how we will live like this for the rest of our lives. If Dublin continues to grow in this way, over 50% of everything will be in the city, which is already top-heavy. It is difficult to go anywhere in Dublin. If one wants to go to a restaurant, one might have to book ten days in advance to be sure of getting a table. It is a constant effort to get from A to B if one wants to go to a function, for example. Young people who have just finished college often come to me to explain that they would love to work somewhere other than Dublin, but no jobs are available in such locations. There are great opportunities in the Civil Service, but most of them are located in Dublin. We have a golden opportunity to bring about a change in this regard and we should facilitate that.

The decentralisation of Civil Service jobs is voluntary. Nobody is being forced from Dublin to work in another location. Civil servants have a choice. People are grabbing this opportunity because they want to move to another location. There is no comparison between the quality of life of young people who live in the country and that of those who live in Dublin. The social life in regional areas is superb, comparatively speaking. Many types of jobs will be available in decentralised offices. I welcome the Minister's statement that there are opportunities for career development within the Civil Service. The problem of limited opportunities will cease to exist. We have to go with the flow.

I congratulate the Government on taking this lead, because there is a huge imbalance. I call on private sector employers to promote decentralisation, rather than concentrating their jobs in Dublin and along the east coast. We should spread the opportunities. This is a beautiful country. We should get the balance right. The flow of jobs should be to provincial areas rather than to the city. Dublin is already defunct as a top city. It is a lovely city to live in, but the quality of life is no longer there. I congratulate the Minister and I hope we will move this process forward fairly quickly.