Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There was an article last week on 24 September by Kevin Doyle of the Irish Independentwhich said that there was a new decentralisation plan to allow civil servants to move out of the capital to the regions. I welcome the initiative by the Minister of State, Deputy Boxer Moran, who suggested that there should be a full review in the budget of the benefit of a decentralisation scheme. He suggested Athlone, which was hardly a surprise, and Sligo, areas he felt would benefit from a regional point of view.

The decentralisation initiative taken some years ago was a great success, contrary to the negative point of view raised by the Fine Gael Party, in particular, which never wanted decentralisation. I was very proud to be involved, as a Teachta Dála, in arranging to bring about the decentralisation of the office of the Registrar of Deaths, Births and Marriages to Convent Road, Roscommon, in beautiful new offices and the Land Registry office to the Golf Links Road.