Opposition lobbied McCreevy 200 times for decentralisation

FINANCE MINISTER Charlie McCreevy was lobbied more than 200 times on decentralisation by opposition party TDs before he announced the entire plan.

Despite the overwhelming criticism of the decentralisation plan by the opposition since its announcement last December, Mr McCreevy received official appeals on behalf of more than 50 different locations from TDs, predominantly from Fine Gael and Labour, over the previous four years.

Between Budget 2000 and Budget 2004, when the plan was first mooted and then finally announced, about half of the 214 parliamentary questions submitted to the minister from the opposition focused on locating a Government department in the respective TD’s constituency.