An Oireachtas committee today begins hearings into the Government's controversial plan to move 10,000 civil and public servant jobs from Dublin to the regions.
Amid growing opposition and clear signals from the Government that decentralsiation will not be executed on the time scale originally envisaged, third-level institutions and representatives from regions hoping to benefit will give their views on the issue today.
Tomorrow clear opposition to the plan is expected to be voiced by trade unions when they appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, chaired by Fianna Fail's Mr Seán Fleming.
The Taoiseach and Tánaiste yesterday said the plan would go ahead but indicated the three-year timeframe may not be met; and Mr Fleming said the time scale for implementing the plan would be a key issue for the committee.
Mr Ahern yesterday said while the plan may "upset" some people, "what we are doing in decentralisation is right."
When the plan was announced in the Budget speech last year, Opposition parties accused the Government of using the plan as stunt in the run-up to the local and European elections.
They argue the plan has not been though through and that normal exploratory procedures have not been followed.
Fine Gael's finance spokesman, Mr Richard Bruton, yesterday said the plan was "descending into farce".
"The question is not whether the pace of decentralisation should be slowed down, but whether it was every properly thought through."