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.

"Absolutely not, there is no question of that. Given that it is the department most centrally involved in the movement, it is not surprising the OPW would be aware of it," the spokesperson said.

At the annual Fianna Fáil Taoiseach's Christmas dinner last night, Mr Ahern last night endorsed the decentralisation plan.

"This radical proposal is good for Dublin and it is good for the rest of the country," he said.

As reported in yesterday's Irish Examiner, just hours after Minister for Finance Charlie McCreevy finished his budget speech, Minister Parlon had leaflets out in his constituency of Laois-Offaly claiming personal credit for delivering 965 jobs in the two counties the largest slice of the civil service cake for any constituency in the country.

But Fianna Fáil claimed it was responsible for the jobs boost as Deputy Seán Fleming rubbished Minister Parlon's declarations and attributed the 965 jobs to the presence of three FF TDs in Laois-Offaly, including the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

"Brian Cowen, John Maloney and I had ensured this was being delivered to the constituency. Tom Parlon does not sit at the Cabinet and has no power.

"Not only was he not involved but he wasn't aware of it. The facts are clear about who is in Cabinet and who isn't," he said.