Decentralisation ‘pause’ — who loses out most?

THE Government decision to effectively halt the decentralisation programme could put up to 19 locations across the country at risk of losing out.

They range from Mitchelstown in Cork to Gweedore in Donegal, if the Government’s most recent progress report is a reliable indication.

When the then finance minister Charlie McCreevy announced the decentralisation plan on Budget Day in December 2003, it was envisaged that 10,300 posts would be transferred from Dublin to 53 different locations nationwide.