Analysis Clientilist politics played a major role in the Government's latestdecentralisation programme, writes Frank McDonald, EnvironmentEditor

Just over a year ago, the Government published its National Spatial Strategy (NSS) identifying eight cities and towns outside Dublin as growth "gateways" and a further nine towns as subsidiary "hubs".

The ostensible purpose was to secure more balanced regional development, although it was clear at the time that too many centres had been selected for any of them to develop the critical mass required to compete effectively with Dublin.

Clientilist politics - parish-pump politics, in reality - won out over making the hard choices that needed to be made. Thus, instead of being concentrated in a limited number of centres, there had to be "something for everyone in the audience".

That ruling thesis has now been reinforced by the decentralisation programme announced in yesterday's Budget, as it will involve the relocation of 10,300 public servants, including whole Departments, to 53 centres in 25 counties.

According to the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, the locations selected for this boondoggle project "take full account of the National Spatial Strategy". The same argument was made later by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen.

With last week marking the first anniversary of the NSS, he told RTÉ that "now we see real life being given to it right throughout the country".

But not even the NSS was so broad in its scope to do that. Although it had a scatter-gun approach, it was confined to a total of 18 "gateways" or "hubs" - less than half the number of locations now targeted for decentralisation.

Four years ago, after Mr McCreevy first announced that 10,000 public servants were to be relocated outside Dublin, he was so inundated by representations on behalf of no less than 300 centres, many of them no more than villages, that he gave up.

But the principle of decentralising to relatively small, remote places had already been established by the likes of Mr John O'Donoghue when, as Minister for Justice, he relocated the Legal Aid Board to Cahersiveen in his south Kerry constituency.

There is much kudos to be gained from such political coups. Local auctioneers, estate agents, builders, shopkeepers, publicans and landowners with sites for sale all gain from having a clutch of well-paid civil servants moving into an area.

By choosing 53 centres for decentralisation, the State's largesse is spread more widely than it would have been if the Government had stuck rigidly to the "gateways" and "hubs" identified by the NSS.

According to Mr McCreevy, the choice was governed not just by the NSS but also by the existence of good transport links by road, rail or air, the location of existing decentralised offices, and the need to create "clusters" within each region.

But these arguments cannot conceal the fact that clientilism was at the root of the choice of locations. And, by picking so many centres, it is clear that the Government is walking from its own spatial strategy.