The Minister for Finance yesterday attacked critics of the decentralisation programme and insisted the Government was making "substantial progress" delivering benefits to the regions.
"Ireland still has a dominant mindset that the public service has to be run out of Dublin," Mr McCreevy said.
His defence of the programme comes before the expected Government decision on where the final tranche of 1,300 Dublin-based public service jobs will be decentralised before the local elections. He said the programme was "absolutely essential" and would benefit everyone by easing pressure on the capital, delivering economic benefits to the regions and giving public servants more choice.
He was speaking in Limerick at a function to mark the tenth anniversary of the decentralisation of the Revenue Commissioners' Collector-General's Office. Meanwhile, a decision on where to transfer more than 800 information technology posts and 500 health sector jobs is due to be made shortly, according to a spokesman for Mr McCreevy.
He said the main priority was to allow the locations to be included in a newly-launched official application system for staff.
