Labour:The Government's efforts to completely move eight of its main departments and many State agencies out of Dublin will be scrapped if Labour is elected.
In 2003 Fianna Fáil's Charlie McCreevy announced the eight departments, dozens of agencies and 10,000 civil servants would be transferred before the election. However, the plan has run into considerable difficulties, as Dublin-based staff are reluctant to move and many of the places are being filled by staff moving from other provincial offices.
Questioned about decentralisation yesterday, Labour's environment spokesman and Dún Laoghaire TD Eamon Gilmore, said: "Large parts of the plans do need to be dumped . . . Moving departments in their totality as currently structured is not possible. By doing that, you straitjacket yourself, for example, in situations where from one government to the next, you do get changes in the way in which departments are constructed.
"Now it may be that there are divisions of departments, or particular units of departments which could be moved," Mr Gilmore said at Labour's morning election press conference.
Decentralisation was supposed to have been voluntary, he said, though "this element has gone" because promotion is only given to those who agree to transfer.
"Some of it is not workable, where you have specialist staff who don't want to move, or specialist agencies who don't want to move. That is clearly not workable. Some of it is going to be extremely expensive. The total amount that they have said it will cost is about €900 million - when you think of what needs to be done in the health service.
"Clearly, there are public servants and civil servants who are quite willing to move out of Dublin, and who are anxious to move out of Dublin. What we will do is do an audit of where it is at, look at what is capable of being proceeded with, and look at what can be proceeded with on a varied basis. But the great big McCreevy plan of 10,000 and 50 locations, that plan as a total will be gone," said Mr Gilmore.
Meanwhile, Labour has said that it will direct its appeal in the final days of the campaign to those voters who may be considering voting for Independent, or single-issue candidates.
"We are asking them to switch directly to Labour to ensure that there is a change of government in this election," he said.
Labour's target gains were identified as Cork South Central, Cork South West, Dublin Mid-West, Dublin North Central, Kerry North, Meath East, Tipperary South and Tipperary North. It hopes to win two seats in Dún Laoghaire, Wicklow and Dublin South Central, Labour's director of elections, James Wrynn, said.
• Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte celebrated his 58th birthday on the campaign trail yesterday, writes Deaglán de Bréadún.
Parents at the Mary Mother of Hope national school in Littlepace, Clonee, provided a birthday cake for the Labour leader and their children helped him slice it up and eat it.
In the best Labour tradition, Rabbitte ensured that as many children as possible got a fair share. The Littlepace parents also took to heart the dictum that a diplomat is someone who remembers your birthday but not your age, and they provided only eight candles for Pat's cake.
Asked to make a birthday wish, he said: "I wish for a change of government and the maximum number of Labour seats."
Mr Rabbitte later told parents worried about the lack of school places in the area that Labour was committed to "a crash programme of school building,"