Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 29 Feb 2000

Vol. 515 No. 3

Written Answers. - Decentralisation Programme.

Willie Penrose

Ceist:

176 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Finance if he will decentralise the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources or the Central Fisheries Board to Mullingar, County Westmeath, in view of its central location and its importance as the lakelands capital of the midlands; if at least £3 million is being expended on an extension to the Central Fisheries Board head office in Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6059/00]

Minister for Finance (Mr. McCreevy)

I am currently in the process of consulting my Government colleagues with a view to taking decisions on a significant decentralisation programme by the summer. With the exception of a small number of decisions which had to be taken in the context of the construction of Stadium Ireland and Sports Campus Ireland and the preparation of the White Paper on Defence, decisions have not yet been taken about the Departments-offices which will feature in the programme or the centres to which they will be relocated.

There are, therefore, no specific proposals at this stage to decentralise particular Government Departments-offices, including the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources or the Central Fisheries Board, to any location.