Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for the comprehensive speech he gave. It is a script we should keep because it is very detailed.

The former Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, established the decentralisation process a year ago. We always criticise Ministers for not laying out their objectives and working towards them but he set out his stall and tried to achieve his goals. There was nothing wrong with laying out the grand design of where we want to go with decentralisation. I applaud his vision. Too many are willing to run away from what he said. He laid out the plan and said that it showed where we wanted to go. A decentralisation committee was set up under Mr. Phil Flynn, with whom I had regular dealings when I was Minister for Public Enterprise. If there is a way to do something, he will find it.

The next step was to work backwards towards the realisation of what we hope to do and this is what the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, has laid out for us today. We were constructive in setting up the implementation group. The press releases last week were not sufficiently positive, however, this is not the end of decentralisation but the beginning. It should have been presented in a more positive manner.