Confusing admissions of failure simply don’t add up

WHAT a mess. It can be argued that the current economic downturn has relatively little to do with the Government, and that the measures announced were a legitimate response to the need to save money in tougher times. But what can’t be denied is the devastating picture the measures paint of government decision- making in a number of areas.

Take decentralisation. It was on Budget Day in December 2003 that the then finance minister Charlie McCreevy unveiled arguably the most ambitious reform in the history of the civil and public service. Eight government departments and the Office of Public Works were to be relocated outside Dublin, meaning 10,300 civil servants would be moved from the capital to 53 centres around the country.

But decentralisation was bogged down by delays almost from the start. It was also the cause of many raised eyebrows, observers wondering how government departments could function effectively if spread throughout the country.