asked the Minister for the Public Service the present position regarding the proposed decentralisation of part of the Department of Justice to Killarney, County Kerry. t

4.

asked the Minister for the Public Service if he will elaborate on the announcement that the Government had decided to cancel the decentralisation programme.

5.

asked the Minister for the Public Service the plans he has for the decentralisation of part of the Department of Agriculture to Cavan town.

6.

asked the Minister for the Public Service when the tenders for the proposed offices under the decentralisation programme will be sanctioned for Sligo and Ballina, County Mayo.

7.

asked the Minister for the Public Service the present position in regard to the proposed decentralisation of a further section of the Department of Education to Athlone, County Westmeath.

: I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 to 7, inclusive, together.

As announced in the Principal Features of the Budget as presented on 9 February 1983, the decentralisation programme has been cancelled. The saving in 1983 will be £5 million and the cost in subsequent years would have been a further £40 million.

: When the Minister refers to a saving of £5 million and a further saving of £40 million, has he completely disregarded the tenders that were submitted for building the offices at the various locations? Does he consider that there should not be decentralisation at this time in places like Ballina, Sligo and Athlone? Does he not think it would be a substantial injection to the building industry in places like Ballina, which he knows so well?

: In the first part of the Deputy's question he refers to privatisation. A detailed reply on that is a matter for the Minister for Finance. However, privatisation proposals were, in fact, sought in addition to conventional tenders for offices in five of the proposed centres and the economic cost of these proposals was far more expensive, it would seem, than if the money were borrowed by the State and the buildings constructed by the Office of Public Works.

The use of public funds to stimulate the construction industry is a matter for the Minister for the Environment in the first instance, but I do know that the Government and the Tánaiste are very concerned about the state of the building industry and concerned about providing a stimulus for it, subject to the availability of funds. Obviously care would have to be taken that any public works involved would be essential high priority projects in their own right which are likely to generate a return to the economy as a whole sufficient to justify the expenditure involved.

: Am I right in assuming then that this Government and this Minister have no commitment to a programme of decentralisation? I cannot accept that it is anybody's responsibility other than that of the Minister for the Public Service. Would he outline what his Government's position on decentralisation is?

: The Deputy must know it is inevitable that in times of harsh economic recession certain expensive State projects must be shelved or curtailed and it is a matter for the Government of the day, given the extreme scarcity of funds, to determine priorities within its public expenditure programme. In relation to the provision of centres in different provincial areas, that would be a matter for the Government of the day and the basic question will still be whether the relocation of 3,000 civil servants merits public expenditure on the scale required. As the Minister for the Public Service would say, it would of course be a task for him to oversee and co-ordinate such a programme. The Deputy must realise that in current times of severe recession this kind of expenditure cannot be undertaken.

: God help Ballina and Sligo when the Minister is around.