Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister. I reassure Senator Dardis that Fine Gael's position on this matter is very clear. We support the principle of decentralisation. However, the Government's handling, or mishandling, of it does not fill us with confidence. The last time the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Parlon, spoke on decentralisation in this House, before it was announced, he said that places that had not fared well in the spatial strategy, such as Carlow which was left out, would receive a bonus through being included in the decentralisation process. While I was delighted with that news, some of my colleagues were horrified. They came from towns that had been included in the spatial strategy and they certainly did not feel they should be discriminated against. The Tánaiste and leader of the Minister of State's party took a completely different view on the issue in the Dáil. There have been very contradictory statements from the outset.

It was wrong to include the announcement in the budget debate, which was done because the budget was so bankrupt of ideas. The announcement regarding the location of the Teagasc headquarters in Carlow was included by the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, in his budget speech. That later turned out to be a stumbling block for compensation agreements with the unions about relocating. It was then removed from the budget speech. The whole incident was handled very badly. The Teagasc deal was concluded before the budget and was not really part of the decentralisation process.