David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Minister to the House. I raise this matter to discuss with the Minister of State the decision to place the headquarters of the new amalgamated Waterford and Wexford VEC in Wexford and not in Waterford city as many people would have hoped for and anticipated. This issue has been in the public domain for some time and Government representatives from Fine Gael and the Labour Party were quite vociferous that proper sustainable planning and proper spatial strategy should be adhered to. As a gateway city, Waterford should have been respected as the best and most appropriate place for the headquarters and administrative centre to be placed.

The decision to place the headquarters in Wexford and not in Waterford was a political decision because a Minister is based in Wexford, and I make no apologies for stating this. It is quite interesting that representatives from Fine Gael who were in Waterford yesterday and today attacked the Labour Party Minister. Is this what we in Waterford and the south-east region will have to put up with for the next number of years? If a health issue arises will Labour Party representatives attack Fine Gael and if an education problem arises will Fine Gael representatives attack the Labour Party? There is collective responsibility for what happened and for Government decisions but we have this hand washing and Pontius Pilate-like attempt by Fine Gael to remove itself from what was a political decision.

Yesterday, a spokesperson from the Department of Education and Skills stated the criteria - these famous criteria about which we are now being told - had to take into account issues such as: the distance employees had to travel; the availability of accommodation; the number of schools and education facilities in the area; and the budgets of the VECs. I do not know who evaluated the criteria but I wonder whether these individuals had any idea of the geography of the south-east region. If anybody believes placing the administrative centre in Wexford was the best decision geographically and in terms of people having to travel, they failed to look at the map and realise people who must travel from west Waterford and Waterford city will have to travel the longest distance. Anyone who has to travel must travel the longest distance. It would have made perfect sense for the centre to be located in Waterford.

In recent weeks, many Ministers came to Waterford on the back of job losses and spoke about the pain which Waterford is experiencing at present. They sympathised and empathised and spoke about enterprise agencies and other Departments and agencies which were failing Waterford and the south east. However, the Government made a political decision which is a clear slap in the face to the people of Waterford and Waterford city and goes against the national development plan and the national spatial strategy. Why on earth is Waterford a gateway city if it will not be given the tools? Why does the Government continue with the policy of the previous Government of making political decisions? All I can say is that it learned well from the previous Government. We had it with the previous Government and here we go again. Political decisions are being made which are not based on sound principles, sustainable planning or regional development but on a decision based on where a Minister of the day resides. This is wrong.

It is also wrong for the Government to cry crocodile tears for Waterford and speak about our problems and empathise, when it has proven itself to be part of the problem and not part of the solution. It is not only me who states this. Members of Fine Gael in Waterford, the local Fine Gael councillors and the two Fine Gael Deputies from the constituency have been very vocal on this matter. The Government representatives and the Fine Gael representatives cannot wash their hands of this and simply point the finger at the Labour Party, no more than the Labour Party can point the finger at the Fine Gael representatives in respect of hospital closures or ward closures. There is collective responsibility and it is about time the Government did what it said it would do and depart from the old way of making political decisions based on parish pump parochial politics and start making the right decisions for the people of the country. With this decision the Government has let down the people of Waterford and the people of the south-east region. This is about sustainable and balanced regional development.