Government faces calls to scrap decentralisation

THE Government’s plan for decentralisation came under renewed attack yesterday as delegates at IMPACT’s biennial conference called on the plan to be scrapped.

The latest volley of criticism came as Tánaiste Mary Harney yesterday conceded for the first time that there were difficulties in transferring qualified workers in State agencies such as FÁS. In a significant departure from previous Government statements, Ms Harney said staff in such agencies could not simply transfer to other departments or organisations if they did not want to decentralise.

In a keynote speech, IMPACT’s chief decentralisation expert Louise O’Donnell highlighted areas of difficulty with the Government’s proposal.