Joe O'Toole (Independent)

It gets my back up to hear people dismissing places outside Dublin as though they are backwoods in which we would not plant cabbages, let alone place a Department. We need to change that attitude in our utterly Dublin-centric society. I am glad the Government has challenged us by bringing forward the plans for decentralisation. Unfortunately, I cannot congratulate the Government on a plan which cannot be implemented within the proposed three year period and therefore I cannot support the motion.