Political reaction The Opposition has accused the Government of using the decentralisation programme as a ruse to boost support for Fianna Fáil and the PDs in the local elections next year.
Fine Gael and Labour said there were no costings in the plan and claimed it would be used by local election candidates for the Government parties to buy votes.
With the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, describing the initiative as a bold move in favour of the regions, the decentralisation plan was immediately welcomed by politicians in the PDs.
The Longford-Roscommon TD, Ms Mae Sexton, issued a press release titled "Sexton delivers on decentralisation for Longford and Roscommon". She welcomed the move of 360 jobs through the proposed relocation of the Prison Service and the Land Registry.
Her colleague, Senator John Dardis, issued a similar statement welcoming the proposed relocation of the Department of Defence, the Defence Forces headquarters and a Revenue office to towns in Co Kildare.
Fine Gael's finance spokesman, Mr Richard Bruton, said it was difficult not to be cynical about the decentralisation initiative.
The promise could be viewed as akin to previous promises to eliminate hospital waiting lists and increase the number of hospital beds, he said.
Mr Bruton described the decentralisation plan as a "smokestack" to deflect attention from the increased impact of stealth charges and the failure to increase the cut-off point of the standard PAYE tax rate.
He said the cumulative cost of increased charges for services and public utilities in the past two years was €2 billion. The Government would have had to increase the standard PAYE rate to 25 per cent from 20 per cent since 2001 to raise a similar amount of the money.
He also said the failure to increase the income cut-off point for the higher 42 per cent PAYE had increased the proportion of workers on the higher rate to 33 per cent from 28 per cent two years ago. This was despite a Government promise to impose the top rate on only 20 per cent of the workforce.
Labour's environment spokesman, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said the decentralisation programme was merely "an effort to buy votes in towns across Ireland in advance of next year's local elections".
He said: "Under Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, we have got used to a series of pre-election promises. Whether it is an end to hospital waiting lists or 2,000 extra gardaí, these parties are prepared to say anything to get back into power."
Mr Gilmore said he was not surprised by the latest announcement but had "absolutely no conviction" that the Government would follow through on the commitments in the Budget.
The Green Party finance spokesman, Mr Dan Boyle, said the decentralisation programme was welcome because the pressure on Dublin would be reduced and the chosen locations would benefit economically.
"The areas chosen will be examined closely for signs of political interference," he said.
