Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

I know about decentralisation. At the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s, when my brother was the Minister for Education, Athlone benefited from the transfer of over 400 Department of Education civil servants. There was no great fanfare, they came and loved the town. They are all settled in now, rearing families who go to local schools and college, they are part of the fabric of Athlone. When I entered Government in March 1987, Senator MacSharry's father brought to the table the decentralisation proposals that had been put on ice since the previous Government under Dr. Garret FitzGerald. The then Minister for Finance, former Deputy Ray MacSharry, laid out the towns to which Departments would be decentralised and Athlone was included again. I was Minister for Education at the time and a further 240 civil servants came to Athlone. I heard no cribs or people saying they did not want to go to Athlone. They were happy to go there and relished moving to a thriving town on a wonderful river with fine facilities. I am glad Athlone has been included a third time for more civil servants in the Department of Education and Science. It is the educational centre of Ireland. Clonmacnoise, the famed scholastic establishment is eight miles away and we are happy to don the mantle of scholastic achievement and be a centre for education.