Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 July 2004
67 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the major factors which led to the particular decentralised location chosen, and the criteria used for selection in respect of each decentralisation move in her Department outlined in the Budget 2004 statement. [21054/04]
View answerAs part of the decentralisation programme, it was decided that a minimum of 250 of my Department's core staff would decentralise to Carlow. It was also decided that four of my Department's agencies, FÁS, National Standards Authority of Ireland, Health and Safety Authority and Enterprise Ireland, would decentralise to Birr, Arklow, Thomastown and Shannon respectively. The decentralisation to these locations was taken in the context of the wider decentralisation programme announced by my colleague, the Minister for Finance, in the Budget. In selecting locations, a wide range of factors was taken into account. The main factors and criteria considered by Government included the need to achieve a fit with the national spatial strategy in terms of the gateways, hubs and their respective catchments; the location of existing decentralised offices, the desirability of clustering a Department's decentralised units within one region, the importance of respecting the scale and character of locations in terms of their capacity to absorb the number of new jobs involved, the general infrastructural capacity in the areas selected, including the existence of good transport links by road, rail and air.
