The Taoiseach defended the Government's decentralisation plans in the face of renewed Opposition criticism. Mr Ahern said that the efficiency of governance would not be affected in any way.
"Moving a large core of departments out to regional locations is good for departments. It will be better for the staff in terms of quality of life and will make for better balanced development in the country.
"With modern technology, this is not just about e-mail. Meetings can take place all over the world without having everyone in the one room. If those days were ever relevant, they are long out of date now. There are no difficulties with these issues."
Earlier, the Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, asked Mr Ahern if he genuinely believed that the business of Government could be done by e-mail. "Is it the case, as has been suggested by a former Taoiseach, that, for example, civil servants participate in no less than 300 interdepartmental committees on behalf of their Ministers?" Mr Rabbitte said it would have been more rational and reasonable to have truly engaged in the consultation promised by the Minister for Finance and to have compiled a league table of locations in the State consistent with a range of socio-economic factors, such as the availability of infrastructure and self-contained, autonomous units of Government that might be transferred to those areas.
"This is the scatter-gun approach the Tánaiste claimed to fear before the election and the hireling fair which repelled her before the election."
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, said the prime motivation was to avoid "decimation in the local elections" next year. "The programme has been heavily influenced by political considerations. Clearly, having a Minister in a constituency, or adjacent to a constituency, has meant more civil servants in the raffle for the public service. Five of the eight Government headquarters to be decentralised are in constituencies of Ministers or close by. Only a quarter of the posts are going to towns mentioned in the National Spatial Strategy."
He added that the Minister for State for Finance, Mr Tom Parlon, had boasted openly that the programme was heavily influenced by political considerations, and that his own involvement was central to the announcement being made about civil servants transferred to his Laois-Offaly constituency.
"Does the Taoiseach not consider that Minister Parlon, for one, is clearly in breach of the Public Offices Commission's code of conduct for Ministers and Ministers of State?"
Mr Ahern said that about 4,500 civil servants had been decentralised in the 1990s. "I have been actively involved as Minister for Finance. It has worked extremely well." The Government had decided, in 1999, that with the growing population in the greater Dublin region, it would have a further period of decentralisation. The implementation group would meet next week, he added.
On the influence of Ministers, Mr Ahern said: "It is a small country. It is a normal enough that it would be near everywhere. I consider Mayo near to Dublin." He added that over the weekend members of the Opposition were claiming they influenced the decision. "It looks as if we have a competition about who had the most influence. I suppose as Taoiseach I should claim full credit."
Mr Kenny pressed the Taoiseach to say if Mr Parlon was in breach of the code of conduct of office holders, requiring Ministers to take decisions in the national interest. Trust in politics was lost when cynicism of that nature crept in, he added.
Mr Ahern said there was now regional balance. On a lighter note, he added: "Deputy Kenny, you and I are around a long time. The code of ethics here is that people get in here and try to stay in here. They claim everything. Opposition deputies were issuing statements the other day saying their role in presenting cases to Ministers visiting their constituencies is what turned it around. Mr Parlon is entitled to work for his constituency, too.
"Sure what else would he be doing but working for his constituency?"
