Michael Kitt (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I compliment him on his contribution. I refer to the speech by the Minister for Finance in November 2004 when two reports of the decentralisation implementation group were published. The recommendations of both reports were accepted by the Government and I very much welcome the decentralisation programme. Every Member supports the programme. It is almost as if they would be opposed to motherhood and apple pie if they opposed it but many "buts" have been mentioned by those who have contributed on this issue.

We are all familiar in the west with successful decentralisation programmes in the past to Galway city, Athlone, Castlebar and Roscommon. It was disappointing when the programme was set at nought in the early 1980s and it did not resume until former Deputy, Ray MacSharry, took over as Minister for Finance in 1987. The national spatial strategy contained a list of towns that were to become gateways and hub towns but a number of them will not benefit under the decentralisation programme, which is puzzling. For example, 1,000 jobs were lost in Tuam when the sugar factory closed in the early 1980s. While the town achieved hub status, it has not been considered for decentralisation. I am even more amazed that the town did not feature in the programme for the roll-out of broadband, even though many towns of a similar and smaller size were included.

The former Minister of State, Bobby Molloy, played a great role in decentralising public sector jobs to the west. He took a back seat role in 1987 when the programme was restarted under the Fianna Fáil Government but he brought his influence to bear on announcements relating to the west. The most significant benefit of decentralisation is the effect it has on employment in a town. That is why I was thrilled that Ballinasloe was listed for the decentralisation of the National Roads Authority in 2004. Loughrea was also listed for the decentralisation of the Department of Transport.

The move to Loughrea has received a successful response but the proposed move to Ballinasloe has been a disaster because the NRA has no intention of relocating to the town. Under the programme, 110 jobs were to be provided. I met a former Minister for Transport in the town last weekend and I asked him whether he had information on the proposed move but he was more than surprised that Ballinsloe has been neglected. If we cannot get movement on this, another agency or Department should be considered for decentralisation to the town. Perhaps the Minister of State can inform me of the progress on decentralising the Railway Safety Commission to Ballinasloe.

At the end of January, a Japanese company, USCI, announced 125 jobs for Ballinasloe. That is the first announcement of jobs for the town since the arrival of AT Cross and Square D in the late 1970s or early 1980s. We lost those two factories and, therefore, a new company is more than welcome. We are all aware that the only way the Government can deal directly with providing jobs in the town is through decentralisation. If we cannot provide the NRA jobs to Ballinasloe, we will have to consider some other agency for the region.

Every week financial institutions publish statements showing they are making more money and people criticise them for the large profits they are making. I do not criticise them for making a profit, but I criticise them for withdrawing services from our towns and villages. The withdrawal of such a service was a huge issue in Carraroe in west Galway two years ago, where the travelling bank was stopped for security reasons. The AIB used to come to Mountbellew, a town close to where I live, once and then twice a week. We all thought that the next move would be to a five-day week service, if only to compete with the Bank of Ireland. Unfortunately, AIB withdrew its service leaving Bank of Ireland with a monopoly. We are lucky to have a bank in the town.

The situation is similar in many towns as I am sure the Leas-Chathaoirleach would agree. We have credit unions and post offices, but I do not see much support for them. The issue has been raised in the Dáil by way of parliamentary question to try to get information from Departments, but there are so many agencies and boards with responsibility for the matter that we are left very much in the dark, whether we are in the Dáil or Seanad. Post offices have closed down in Galway county and been replaced by the smallest post box that cannot take anything other than a small envelope. Recently, I was almost late for the post and met the postman collecting the post from the box. Most of the bigger envelopes were ripped and he said to me that he would have to repackage them or put sellotape on them when he got back to Ballinasloe.

We must wake up to the fact that we are not providing the services through agencies as we did through Departments. Many agencies are withdrawing services. I hope our committees will follow this up at committee level because it is difficult for us to follow up. We cannot raise issues in the Seanad because we are told they are not the responsibility of the Minister and Deputies have the same problem in the Dáil. We must ensure that decentralisation will be across the board. We must consider the towns that are not hub or gateway towns because they need more people and services, whether through decentralisation of an agency or Department.

The decentralisation programme and list published in 2004 is good for most other areas. I remember when I was a member of the Committee of Public Accounts some years ago, before the Department of Social and Family Affairs opened offices in Sligo, I was told the departmental computers were so large that they could hardly be moved. Technology has ended that problem and it is great that we have such a good ICT system that we no longer have a problem moving it. We will probably have more of a problem moving people. The move to Sligo is one of the best examples of decentralisation we have and people know what Department and town to contact when they want information on welfare benefits.

We should think of young people when we consider decentralisation. I was at a meeting in Ballinasloe on Monday attended by members of the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business who came to talk about Ballinasloe and the regions. Many young people spoke about the great facilities in towns such as Roscommon which has made great improvements in the area of recreation and sports facilities. This is something the young people of Ballinasloe would like to emulate.

As chairman of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs sub-committee on overseas development aid, I have received many representations from NGOs with regard to the proposed transfer of the ODA unit to Limerick. I do not know if the Minister of State has addressed the issue as I did not have time to go through all his comments. Much money is being spent on ODA, over €600 million, and I am delighted about that. We hope to reach the 0.7% of GNP target by 2012. If, as the NGOs suggest, difficulties will arise as a result of a move to Limerick, we should reconsider it. I have an open mind on the matter. I am in favour of the decentralisation programme, but this appears to be an issue that has arisen again and again. Perhaps the Minister of State will give his view on this particular move.

I applaud the Minister of State on the work done so far and hope he will have accomplish a successful decentralisation programme.