Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 February 2004
192 Mr. Healy asked the Minister for Finance the position regarding the decentralisation programme announced in his Budget Statement; the way the programme will be rolled out; the timescale envisaged; when the location of the, as yet, unallocated jobs will be announced; and if he will prioritise Carrick-on-Suir for 300 jobs. [5180/04]
View answerI appointed a decentralisation implementation committee to move the programme forward. It is chaired by Phil Flynn. The committee will prepare an implementation plan and will report back to Government by the end of March.
As I indicated in my Budget Statement, decisions on location have yet to be made on 1,300 of the 10,300 jobs being decentralised. The final total could be closer to 12,000 jobs and I intend to examine options once the new programme is well under way. The selection of locations for any future phases of decentralisation will be considered by Government at the appropriate time.
