The Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, has hit back at claims by a Fine Gael TD, Mr Richard Bruton, that the Government's decentralisation policy amounted to "stroke" politics.
Yesterday, announcing approval for the construction of a £12 million building to be used as Government offices as a result of decentralisation to Dundalk, the Minister said it had taken 20 years to secure the policy.
"It was 1980 when the decision was made to decentralise to Dundalk by a Fianna Fail government and it has taken 20 years to achieve it. The Fine Gael-Labour coalition was against it and put it on hold," he said.
The Minister said he had secured approval from the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, to increase the number of positions being decentralised from 40 to 100, all staff from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs.
The new building, however, would also provide accommodation for the Revenue Commissioners; the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development; the Department of Justice, Probation and Welfare Services; and the Office of Public Works.
Construction would be completed next year, with the first occupants expected to be in by mid-2002. The building will be located beside the new Louth County Council offices and the municipal swimming pool.
Speaking in Dundalk, the Minister referred to the poor state of some of the offices being used by Government departments in the town, particularly the Revenue Commissioners. "The state-of-the-art offices will house staff from my Department and a number of other Departments - thereby bringing an end to, in some cases, the relatively poor office facilities which Civil Service staff have had to endure over the last number of years."