Civil service plan not realistic

THE Government’s plan for decentralisation is unworkable and should be abandoned, the Irish Rural Link annual conference was told in Portumna, Co Galway, yesterday.

Mairead McGuinness, the journalist and broadcaster, who is a Fine Gael Euro election candidate in the East constituency, said the target of having 10,300 civil servants decentralised to 52 locations by 2006 was unrealistic. The figure would be closer to 2,500.

“How can anyone realistically expect to reverse decades of a centralised public administration policy in three years? It will be nearer to 2012 when the figure of 10,300 is reached,” she said.