A plan by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, when he was Minister for Health to move the National Disease Surveillance Centre to his own constituency appears to have failed.
Mr Cowen announced shortly before leaving the Department of Health in January 2000 that the centre would be relocated from Dublin to Tullamore, Co Offaly.
The proposal has been strongly opposed by staff at the centre.
It has now emerged in documents obtained by The Irish Times that the NDSC is to move to Gardiner Street, Dublin, in the Taoiseach's constituency. A Department of Health spokesman refused to confirm the move to Tullamore had been shelved.
READ MORE
Further reports: page 4