I want to recap on some of the points made by the Minister for Finance, who put up a very poor case. There was nothing of substance in what he had to say in regard to why this programme should not be proceeded with. He mentioned the election and said it was important to take into account that there had been an election between the time the decisions were made and the scheme was set up by the previous Government, and consequently that imposed some kind of obligation on him and on the Government.
I am not aware that at any time in any of the places where the new centres of employment were to be developed the Fine Gael or Labour candidates in the general election said they would not go ahead with these schemes. I know that the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry in my constituency did not at any time tell the people it would be part of the Government's policy to delay this scheme if Fine Gael were elected to Government. I am sure I can rely on the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry in Government to oppose what the Minister for Finance is doing in the long-fingering or scrapping of this scheme.
I want to reiterate what I said last night, that a great deal of detailed work had been done by Deputy Fitzgerald, then Minister, and Deputy Calleary, then Minister of State, and that the unions were informed of the Government's intentions. We were quite satisfied that any teething troubles there might be, could be overcome, as they were in the case of the decentralisation of part of the Department of Education to Athlone and part of the Department of Lands to Castlebar. The Minister for Finance was very harassed in his approach to the funding. I will not go into any detail. My colleague, Deputy Barrett, will deal in more depth with the funding of our proposed scheme. It was not envisaged that we would be borrowing abroad for this development.
I reject vehemently the implication in what the Minister for Finance said, that somehow or other, if the services were located outside Dublin, those services would be inferior to the services provided in Dublin. I do not think there is any substance whatsoever in this. The Minister was very cautious about the infrastructural services necessary for setting up of the offices in the various centres. I can tell the House that the areas mentioned for decentralisation are crying out for development. If the scheme is proceeded with, the injection of real life and vigour into those areas will benefit the country as a whole. It is in those areas we would be concentrating our development and not be afraid to say: "If we give services there we cannot give them some place else". That kind of specious pleading does not cut any ice in the House or in the country.
The Minister for Finance mentioned the OPW and the supervisory role of that office. Of course the OPW have a role in stating what the Government Departments to be decentralised would need. Surely the Minister for Finance was not saying that the private interests who were going to develop those centres would somehow or other squander their own resources. There was a lack of logic in what the Minister for Finance said in this regard yesterday. He promised a decision. It was very difficult to know what his intention would be. He promised a decision very soon. Now is the time for the Minister for Finance or for the Minister of State in his Department to announce positively that the well-thought out, well-structured scheme, to which a great deal of study and discussion had been devoted, will go ahead. In essence, the Government are long-fingering if not scrapping the whole idea. I indicated that all the homework had been thoroughly done by Deputy Fitzgerald, Deputy Calleary and by the outgoing Government.
Decentralisation is regional development. The whole philosophy of decentralisation has been elaborated over the years. I want to mention, in passing, the NESC Report No. 28, Service Type Employment and Regional Development, NESC Report No. 10, Comments on Report of Committee on Development Centres and Industrial Estates and Regional Studies in Ireland. It is interesting for the House to note that the Buchanan Report mentioned Dundalk, Sligo, Athlone, Tralee, Letterkenny, Castlebar and it mentioned Cavan as a centre of development for the counties Cavan, Longford and Monaghan. I am saying this to indicate that there has been plenty of discussion. Now is the time for action. It was precisely action that the Fianna Fáil Government were concentrating on because the time for talking had ended.
I would like to quote from Administration, volume 24, page 356, where Mr. Barrington stated:
If ever a policy of decentralising jobs was to make any sense, it should be related to office jobs. The government itself as a major employer is a main sinner here. The Irish system of government is extraordinarily centralised and concentrated in the capital city. We think of French government as being highly centralised; but only just over a quarter of French civil service jobs are in Paris itself. In Dublin we have almost two-thirds. Comparisons with other countries are likewise unfavourable. One of the biggest things government could do for regional development is to have a real policy for decentralising office jobs — especially public service ones.
I am sorry I have not time to elaborate. The discussion has gone on, the debate has gone on, the studies have gone on and we now want action. We have had the briathar, briathar, briathar. We want the beart, the beart, the beart.