Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar are the three towns which form the apex of the strategy, where the education jobs are to be located. Athlone is willing to extend its mantle of education to the other two towns and allow them to share in its success. Everyone on the Opposition side is moaning, but I notice in the Minister of State's speech how many Departments are being decentralised. The Departments of Social and Family Affairs, Arts, Sport and Tourism, Defence, Education and Science, Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Agriculture and Food and the Office of Public Works are all included in the initial phase. I am referring to the headquarters of those Departments. This is important because inherent in Deputy McCreevy's first announcement on that fateful budget day was that headquarters were to be decentralised so that the policy-making units of Departments could be seen to be part of the rural landscape of Ireland.

I cannot understand why people, knowing that the scheme is voluntary, ask about this town or that. Clearly, people did not want to go to a particular town and, if so, they cannot be forced to go. I realise that Athlone has pushed out the boat and has a record as regards decentralisation and a welcoming approach which was there from the beginning. However, it is advisable for towns to put on their bright clothes, lay out their stalls, show their attractions and what is on offer, in the fullest sense. In response to those who are reluctant to move, I do not know how people live in Dublin all the time. When we Senators do our three our four days work here in the House, I cannot wait to get on the western road home. A newspaper correspondent once asked me what my favourite road in Ireland was and I replied that it was the road home between Dublin and Athlone.

There is little quality of life if one spends an hour in a car trying to get to Dublin from some outlying suburb. That is a akin to the "murder machine", like the education machine of long ago. I left Athlone early this morning and encountered heavy traffic on the M50 and I reflected on having to do this every day of one's life. The roads in rural Ireland are becoming busy, too, but at least one may wake up in the morning and hear the birds singing, if it is spring. One can get to shops and get children to school in comfort and there is no shortage of social activities, clubs, etc. Senator Bannon is nodding appreciatively. Longford is lovely place in which to live.