The Government was today severely criticised by both Fine Gael and Labour over reports that its decentralisation programme appears to have been shelved.
Over two years ago the Minister for Finance, Mr Charlie McCreevy, announced plans to move 10,000 civil servants outside Dublin. Now, however, he has said he does not know when an announcement will be made.
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"I am not in a position to say definitively when I expect a decision to be taken, other than to say such decisions will be taken as soon as is practicable after the conclusion of the current deliberations," he said in a statement last night.
Today Labour's spokesman on Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Willie Penrose, called on the Government to "come clean on its proposals" for decentralisation.
"Other than allowing a number of government ministers to pirate pet projects for their own constituencies, Minister McCreevy has failed to take any action to implement the plan," he said.
Mr Penrose claimed that the case for decentralisation has never been stronger. "Dublin has been growing at a rate that has put huge pressure on the infrastructure. The city is crawling to a halt as the traffic problems mount.
"The procession of buses leaving Dublin every Friday evening carrying large numbers of civil servants clearly shows that there are many who would prefer to live outside Dublin if the work was available," he said.
Mr Penrose said that the current situation amounted to "political cowardice" on the part of the government. "If Fianna Fáil and the PDs are not prepared to take difficult decisions they should not be in government," he said.
Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan said that he "very much regrets" indications that the decentralisation plan is not proceeding. "Fine Gael in Government will proceed with decentralisation," he said.
"The programme will proceed after full consultation with the public service unions and will involve decentralisation not only of sections of departments, but of full departments," said Mr Noonan.
Echoing Mr Penrose's comments, Mr Noonan claimed thousands of civil servants were anxious to move out of Dublin because the "exorbitant rents and house prices" are unaffordable on the salaries paid to junior and middle ranking civil servants.
"The ongoing growth of Dublin is destroying the quality of life in the city and decentralisation is a method of encouraging the development of alternative growth centres in the country," Mr Noonan added.
