The Minister for Finance first announced a major decentralisation programme during the 1999 budget.

On that occasion Mr McCreevy said 10,000 civil service jobs would be moved out of Dublin, but he gave no target date.

Again yesterday Mr McCreevy gave no date for the completion of his decentralisation plan mark two.

But he named the towns yesterday which would receive the relocated jobs. This greatly cheered Government party local election candidates in 25 counties.

The Government has undertaken decentralisation projects in the past.

In the 10 years to June 1998 a programme of decentralisation succeeded in enticing 3,559 civil servants out of Dublin.

Many of the Government offices that moved ended up in the constituencies of serving ministers.

For example, the then minister for justice, Mr O'Donoghue, moved the Legal Aid Board to his home town of Cahirciveen, Co Kerry.

The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, transferred the Civil Defence headquarters to his base in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, while former minister for the marine, Mr Fahey, succeeded in relocating the Marine Institute to his Galway West constituency.