The Government's refusal to allow any formal examination or impact analysis of its plans to decentralise the headquarters of eight Departments and a number of State bodies reflects a mixture of arrogance, political chicanery and a determination to avoid being held to account.
This approach has informed other contentious decisions, such as the introduction of electronic voting and the forthcoming referendum on citizenship rights, where no proper consultation took place and genuine concerns were dismissed as mischief-making.
Since the announcement was made last December, it has become blindingly obvious that little thought was given to the effect the transfer of various headquarters will have on official policy-making and joined-up government. No Green or White Paper was published. No cost-benefit analysis was provided. No impact assessment was conducted. And when members of the Oireachtas Finance Committee sought to hear testimony from the Government's own Decentralisation Implementation Group, from planners, management experts and trade union leaders, they were bluntly refused.
Yesterday, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, had the nerve to suggest an announcement concerning the early transfer of 50 members of the Department of Agriculture to Portlaoise was not a local election stunt. As the Minister has himself acknowledged, the Government's own re-election could hinge on the implementation of detailed decentralisation plans involving the scattering of more than 10,000 civil and public servants to 53 centres outside Dublin by 2007.
Weeks before the last general election, Mr McCreevy announced that accommodation for 400 civil servants would be built in his own constituency. He also teamed up with the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, to make special arrangements for the construction of an agriculture and equestrian centre at Punchestown. The tendency of some Ministers to treat public money and the transfer of officials as mechanisms to aid their re-election is unacceptable. This approach was rejected by the Progressive Democrats, some years ago, as "gombeen politics". But that view changed with the appearance of "Parlon Country" posters in Laois/Offaly.
There is support amongst professional organisations and trade unions for the Government's original plan to move basic administrative structures out of Dublin on a voluntary basis. But a line was crossed when policy-making sections of Departments and State agencies were included without consultation or proper evaluation.
At the moment, affected civil and public servants are being asked to indicate their preference for relocation to the centres available. The exercise will end in about six weeks. At that stage, the extent of the disruption that can be anticipated within the policy-making process, through transfers and voluntary redundancies, will become obvious. Effective and efficient government, not party political advantage, must drive decentralisation policy.