Coalition infighting over civil service plan

THE Government suffered a decentralisation backlash yesterday as its local elections sweetener began to turn sour.

As civil servants affected by the move objected to being used as pawns in a pre-election game, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats continued to shamelessly fight for the plaudits of the plan to move 10,400 public service workers out of Dublin to the regions.

After Junior Finance Minister Tom Parlon claimed he knew details of the plan ahead of the presentation of Budget 2004, a spokesperson for the Tánaiste Mary Harney denied she had breached Cabinet confidentiality or tipped off her Progressive Democrats colleague, the Minister of State at the Office of Public Works.