Deputies manoeuvre for brownie points

PROOF, if it were needed, that the decentralisation programme was politically motivated emerged yesterday as Fianna Fáil fought a propaganda war against the PDs to claim credit for delivering jobs to rural constituencies.

Within minutes of Charlie McCreevy’s announcement of the decentralisation of 10,400 public service jobs on Wednesday, Coalition party ministers and TDs tripped over each other to be the first to be associated with the surprise coup.

Aside from a flurry of decentralisation press releases going out as soon as the minister for finance finished his speech, the intense competition for political advantage was particularly well illustrated in Laois-Offaly.

The only constituency in the country with four Government TDs, three FF and one PD, it reaped the biggest dividend from decentralisation, with 965 jobs going to five towns in the counties.

Just half an hour after Budget 2004 was read, Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Cowen pipped his FF colleague Seán Fleming to the 5pm news on local radio station Midlands Radio 3, to spread the good cheer locally.

Keeping pace, Junior Minister for Finance Tom Parlon did an interview with INN, the news network for local radio stations, and then appeared on the RTÉ’s Six One News, focusing on the local jobs in both cases.

While the junior minister responsible for the Office of Public Works did battle on the airwaves, his special adviser Matt Moran co-ordinated the publication of a full colour A5 flyer entitled Parlon Delivers, which was on the streets of Birr by 8pm on Wednesday. The leaflet was also handed out to railway commuters in Portlaoise and Portarlington yesterday morning, as well as being distributed in Tullamore and Edenderry.

Not to be outdone, Deputy Fleming had a team of four in his constituency office, including wife Mary and his secretary, printing and enveloping 2,000 letters staking FF’s claim to the jobs. With the An Post national sorting office located in Portlaoise, the letters were out on Wednesday night and arrived on doorsteps yesterday morning. Mr Parlon and Mr Fleming differ over who was really responsible for Laois-Offaly’s fortuitous jobs boon.

Following a tight general election campaign, the constituency remains a real hot bed of political activity.