The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, was yesterday invited to attend a hearing of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service to discuss Government policy on decentralisation.
The invitation followed the committee's examination of Mr Sean Benton, Office of Public Works commissioner on his department's role in implementing the current Government decentralisation programme.
Mr McCreevy, in his recent Budget statement, had announced that the Government intended to embark on "a new and radical programme of decentralisation", with the relocation of the maximum numbers of public service jobs from Dublin. Mr Benton told the committee: "It is intended that almost entire Departments of State and other public bodies will be transferred to provincial centres and, for the first time, the programme will involve the non-commercial semi-State sector."
The Budget announcement endorsed an earlier statement in the reviewed Action Programme for the Millennium", in which the Government had reiterated its commitment to "a policy of balanced regional development", with the channelling of public sector jobs into provincial areas seen as a key priority.
The Minister had begun a process of consultation with his colleagues in Government, said the OPW commissioner, with a view to identifying which Departments and offices would be included. Mr McCreevy hoped this element of the process would be completed "in time for decisions to be taken" by the summer.
The programme encompassed a number of key objectives, Mr Benton noted, including the promotion of regional development, the reduction of congestion in Dublin and the establishment of a more even spread of public sector jobs around the State. Another consideration was the lower cost of office accommodation outside the capital.
The OPW was not involved in the selection of decentralisation locations, he replied, in response to questions from the committee on the criteria being adopted.
"OPW's role is to facilitate the implementation of Government decisions through the procurement of office accommodation in designated locations, as economically as possible."