Sligo is campaigning to have a Government department transferred to the town as part of the Cabinet's recently announced decentralisation plans.
It knows this won't be easy. It accepts that practically every large town in the State is thinking along the same lines. However, Sligo believes it has more to offer and deserves to be high on the selection list. Under an earlier decentralisation move, the pensions section of the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs was transferred to the area. This opened initially with 35 staff but increased to the present 500, representing a major financial boost to the town and region. Under the Government's new decentralisation plan, it makes good sense both in economic and human resources terms to have another section of that Department in Sligo. Many Department programmes are interlinked, so retraining would be reduced, inter-section mobility would be improved and internal Departmental promotions would be more easily effected.
In addition, Sligo - capital of the north-west - has been identified in the Fitzpatrick report as the centre of population with the widest infrastructure and services to support regional growth development.
Mr Jim Lawlor, president of Sligo Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has written to the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, stressing the importance of Sligo as a location for a Government department.
He points out that house prices and availability are competitive. Within a few miles of Sligo there are small towns which enjoy town/village renewal tax incentives that would benefit from an influx of civil servants. Developments in and around the town provide quality private housing and Sligo Corporation is currently implementing an affordable housing programme.
Mr Lawlor says the educational facilities in the area cover the full spectrum from preschool to third level. Third-level education is available at Sligo Institute of Technology and St Angela's College - the only constituent of the National University of Ireland north of the line between Dublin and Galway.
There is a full range of public and private health services, he says. "The regional hospital, which is modern, provides an extensive range of medical, specialist and psychiatric facilities and also includes a training school for nurses. In private practice, there is a wide and comprehensive range of consultants, GPs, dentists, opticians with support services."
The chamber has commended Sligo Corporation for offering a six-acre site to the Government to facilitate the speedy transfer of a decentralised department.
The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, in his Budget statement, announced the Government's intention to embark on "a new and radical programme of decentralisation", with the relocation of the maximum numbers of public service jobs from Dublin. It is intended that almost entire departments of State and other public bodies will be transferred to provincial centres and, for the first time, the programme will involve the non-commercial semi-state sector.
The Minister has begun a process of consultation with his colleagues in Government with a view to identifying which departments and offices would be included.
The decentralisation programme has a number of key objectives, including the promotion of regional development, the reduction of congestion in Dublin and the establishment of a more even spread of public sector jobs around the State. Another consideration is the lower cost of office accommodation outside the capital.
All Sligo can do is continue to lobby, and hope and pray.