Development plan shelved until after Referendum

THE Government has shelved its vital plans on regional development and decentralisation until after the Nice Treaty Referendum.

The National Spatial Strategy, which will identify key areas outside Dublin for population growth, will not be published by the government until the end of next month after the polling date of October 19.

Details of the decentralisation programme that will see up to 10,000 civil servants relocated outside Dublin are dependent upon the publication of the plan, so are also being withheld.