Joe O'Toole (Independent)

If we are wrong about it, somebody should tell us we are wrong. These things are important. We need to consider decentralisation as a proactive measure that ties into other plans. I do not believe it ties into the national spatial strategy. It is not complementary to the strategy at all — in many cases it is quite the opposite, filling gaps left by the spatial strategy in order to satisfy people. That will not work.

I regret that on an issue on which there is, in principle, all-party agreement, there is total division on the matter of implementation. There is something wrong there. It is a matter of change management. I agree with many of the points the Minister made earlier, but I have some reservations. Senator Mansergh and I, wearing other hats, have considered the strategic management initiatives over the years, a core principle of which was change management. There is no evidence of any kind of proper change management in what we have heard so far about the implementation of this very good idea. That is the problem. Nobody can disagree with the principle of decentralisation. Nobody so far in the debate has dared to say he or she is opposed to it. All the opposition has been based on the detail. This will always be the case, but it is a pity we cannot obtain agreement on implementation.

Decentralisation will simply not happen in three years. In three years, whoever is on this side of the House will stand up and accuse the Government of saying it would happen when it did not. The same debate will continue endlessly, in a circular fashion, without a solution ever being found. People will justify what they did and blame other people. We should recognise that it is too big a project to implement in three years and that it cannot be done in that time. We should reassess the whole plan. It is a good idea and has substantial support — in fact, it easily has the support of the majority — but its implementation must be reconsidered. It will not be implemented in the face of so much opposition.

I agree that some of the comments made about certain places are utterly unacceptable. There is nothing wrong with putting the Equality Authority in Roscrea if that is the final decision. I do not see what point anyone could make about that. Nobody can say that they wanted another Department to come to Carlow or anything of that sort. Some of us represent a constituency that covers all of Ireland and beyond and we have a respect for all these places. There is no town on which I could not give a brief lecture, covering its beauty, interests and history and the reasons someone might want to live there.