Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

Will the Leader arrange a debate for next week with the Minister of State at the Department of Finance on the decentralisation programme? This is the third anniversary of one of the most significant political announcements of the past decade, made in the Budget Statement of December 2003 by the then Minister of Finance, Mr. McCreevy, that 10,000 civil servants would be transferred throughout the country. This was deemed the ultimate bonanza for rural and provincial Ireland, but unfortunately it has not happened. We need to debate the decentralisation strategy, the spatial strategy and that whole area of public policy. We need to hear from the Minister of State at the Department of Finance with responsibility for this area whether the project has gone entirely off the rails or whether it will be fully implemented. We need a full debate on the matter before the Christmas recess and I ask the Leader to arrange that.