The Government has beaten a hasty retreat on the planned large-scale decentralisation of civil servants, the Fine Gael director of policy, Mr Richard Bruton, said yesterday. Mr Bruton accused the Government of rowing back at the first sign of opposition from Fianna Fail backbenchers "who are consumed by the politics of envy". He was speaking following a report in yesterday's Irish Times that the Government was to consider abandoning its plan to transfer 10,000 civil servants out of Dublin in favour of moving smaller numbers on a piecemeal basis. "The retreat from decentralisation carries all the hallmarks of Bertie Ahern wanting to agree with everyone but offend no one," said Mr Bruton. The Labour Party spokesman on Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Willie Penrose, said he was concerned the Government was considering abandoning the plan because it could cause political damage in the run-up to a general election.
"As a result of the mismanagement of decentralisation, we now risk having a situation on our hands where decentralisation will only occur on a piecemeal basis. This will be to the detriment of towns all over the country who stand to benefit from a movement of civil servants from Dublin," he said.
The general secretary of the Association of Civil and Public Servants, Mr Sean O Riordain, said the unions involved had not been kept informed by the Government of its plans. Efforts had been made, he said, to try and ensure decentralisation would be carried through in a logical and transparent manner.
"Our fear all along was that the only criteria would be political and civil servants would be handed out like smarties in pursuit of local electoral advantage," Mr O Riordain said.
The association had asked for a survey to be carried out to find out who wished to move and to where, and also to canvass the heads of Government Departments, but both requests had been denied. Meanwhile, the Public Service Executive Union welcomed reports that the Government was to take a "more measured approach" to the implementation of its decentralisation proposals. The assistant general secretary, Mr Tom Geraghty, said his union had always argued it made no sense to proceed with the proposed decentralisation "without any evidence that even a fraction of this number was interested and without any account being taken of the locations in which the people affected might be interested in living".