Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 28 Nov 1991

Vol. 413 No. 7

Adjournment Debate. - Government's Decentralisation Programme.

Mr. G. Reynolds

I wish the new Minister of State at the Department of Finance good luck in his new portfolio. I hope he has good news for the people of County Leitrim.

I am raising this issue because, in the last couple of weeks, a number of articles have been written about County Leitrim and the problems we have compared to other countries. In The Sunday Tribune last week a headline proclaimed that the young are leaving lovely Leitrim in droves. The 1991 census showed that County Leitrim has a population of 25,297 people, a decrease of 6.4 per cent since the last census. Another startling fact emerged, in the 15-24 age group there are only 1,387 females in the county, fewer than one in eight of the total female population of the country. This is 50 per cent lower than the national average. There are 1,687 males in the comparable age group, which is also close to 50 per cent lower than the national average. It identifies the major problem of trying to keep our population in the county and to keep our identity.

The Government can play a particular and positive role because County Leitrim has not been given any special incentives by the IDA or indeed the Government to attract industry to the area. The Government could rectify this through their decentralisation policy and transfer a departmental office to Carrick-on-Shannon. At present, four counties have not benefited from decentralisation, Carlow, Roscommon, Monaghan and Leitrim. I have no doubt that our problems are more urgent and immediate than the other three countries although I know that other people can make a fair case for them also. We are not looking for 200 or 300 jobs; 100 departmental jobs would be a tremendous boost to the town of Carrick-on-Shannon.

As a town, Carrick-on-Shannon has many attributes. It has excellent education and recreational facilities. It is centrally located, at close proximity to Galway and Dublin. Over the last number of years, however, Carrick-on-Shannon has suffered from the lack of a significant service or white collar project. In recent years the town has witnessed the closure of the local CIE freight depot, closure of the local Shell oil depot and, most significantly, closure of the local telephone exchange. None of these projects has been replaced to date and consequently 120 jobs have been lost. In a town the size of Carrick-on-Shannon the loss of so many jobs has had a significant impact on the commercial and social fabric of the town and the relocation of a Government office or service to Carrick-on-Shannon would go a long way towards compensating for these losses. I appeal to the Minister to accede to my request.

Minister of State at the Department of Finance (Mr. O'Donoghue)

At the outset I sincerely thank Deputy Reynolds for his good wishes.

I am very pleased to have the opportunity to place on the record of this House the success to date of the Government's decentralisation programme. As Deputy Gerry Reynolds and the House will know, this Government are fully committed to the concept of decentralisation. For too long, the concentration of human and material resources in the centre, at the expense of the peripheral areas — I assure Deputy Reynolds that I know all about peripheral areas — had effectively deprived the provincial regions of their development capacity, while placing an enormous burden on the Dublin area. The resulting migration from the provinces over the years has been extensive and it has had substantial effects on the population, as outlined by Deputy Reynolds.

This Government believe that the more widespread location of public service employment is a desirable long term objective to help reduce regional imbalances and the pressures on the Dublin region. It was for this reason that the decentralisation programme initiated in 1980, and subsequently cancelled by a previous Administration, was reintroduced in 1987 when the Fianna Fáil Government took office. I am glad to say that the speed at which the programme is being implemented since then has surpassed all expectations.

Deputies will know that the original programme covers 12 locations countrywide. Phase I, which has been successfully completed, involved the relocation of approximately 800 public servants at four locations; Cavan, Galway, Sligo and Ballina. Part of phase II of the decentralisation programme has also been completed, with the new offices at Killarney, Letterkenny and Athlone completed and now occupied by a total of 475 staff from the Departments of Justice, Social Welfare and Education respectively. The remaining centres under Phase II consist of Ennis, Nenagh, Limerick, Dundalk and Waterford. Construction has been completed in Ennis and staff will be transferred there in early 1992. Work is in progress in both Limerick and Nenagh and will be completed in 1992 also.

The Government's confidence and continuing commitment to the overall concept of decentralisation was highlighted again this year with the announcement on 12 June 1991 of a further major extension to the decentralisation programme to six new provincial centres; Cork, Longford, Wexford, Portlaoise, Tullamore and Kilkenny. This extension to the programme will involve the transfer of approximately 1,400 staff to the locations mentioned. Planning, acquisition of suitable sites, preparation of staffing and accommodation briefs in respect of the expanded programme are now being prepared, and significant progress will be made in 1992. The Government are very encouraged that the beneficial effects of the decentralisation projects completed to date are already being fully felt in the centres selected.

I sympathise fully with the Deputy's anxiety to see his county town, Carrick-on-Shannon, a beautiful county, benefiting from the programme, but I hope he will understand and appreciate that the selection of centres to benefit from the decentralisation programme is not an easy choice with so many locations to be considered. It is unfortunate that many communities and towns which were considered have been disappointed to date.

I need not stress that the decentralisation programme is an ambitious one. Completing the present programme will take considerable time. Deputy Reynolds will also realise that there is also the need to proceed with the programme on an orderly and phased basis. However, it is the Government's intention that the present programme will be completed as speedily as possible so as to ensure its success, which will secure the economic and social benefits to the various local communities throughout the country.