Decentralisation fiasco - Proposal doomed to sit in dust

THE Labour Court ruling that FÁS cannot make promotion conditional on staff being prepared to move to the training body’s proposed new headquarters in Birr, Co Offaly, is the final nail in the coffin for the Government’s decentralisation policy.

Announced on December 3, 2003, during a budget speech by then finance minister Charlie McCreevy, with his customary bluster and dismissive sabre rattling, the policy has been consigned to the back of the bottom drawer in the Government’s must-do filing cabinet.

Decentralisation’s demise is a pity. It is not the only good idea languishing in that dusty hospice for ambition — but condemned it most certainly is.