€20m headquarters an ‘uninhabited white elephant’

A €20 MILLION national marine headquarters, planned for West Cork as part of the Government’s decentralisation programme, will become an ‘uninhabited, white elephant,’ a trade union official claimed, yesterday.

Owen Reidy, organiser of SIPTU’s state and related agencies branch, also described the announcement by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern as a political stroke aimed at garnering votes.

Mr Reidy said not one Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) employee had expressed an interest in decentralisation.