There were internal Cabinet divisions over the Government's policy of decentralisation, the Fine Gael spokesman on regional development, Mr Paul Connaughton claimed.
"Ministers are obviously sulking in the knowledge that their county towns may be omitted," he said. He called on the Government to produce "a blueprint for decentralisation, providing the public with clear, unambiguous, transparent eligibility guidelines on which towns, cities and regions can be entitled to a decentralised government department." Mr Connaughton was speaking during a Fine Gael Private Members' motion criticising the Government's failure to implement a decentralisation policy. The House will vote on the motion tonight.
The Government and its predecessor, said Mr Connaughton, were clearly Dublin orientated in that the vast bulk of the infrastructural investment in roads, railways and transport went to the capital. Areas outside of the Dublin commuter belt had been left out in the cold.
The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, deputising for the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, said Fine Gael should have no doubt about the Government's resolve to progress a new and substantial programme of decentralisation.
"When it is announced, it will be a statement of the Government's intent to address the congestion issue in Dublin city," he said.