The Minister for Finance has been accused of trying to "hijack" the decentralisation programme as a "con-job" for the next election.
Opposition parties criticised Mr McCreevy's plan to move 10,300 civil servants out of Dublin after senior civil servants warned that "administrative chaos" would result.
Fine Gael's deputy leader and finance spokesman, Mr Richard Bruton, said that having "bought" the last general election through "massive public spending", Mr McCreevy was now trying to "repeat the trick".
"Many admire the disarming frankness of Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy. He hopes that the public will see his statements on over the weekend in the same light. But the truth is that decentralisation marches to the beat of an electoral drum. Decentralisation is about the personal electoral interests of ministers and junior ministers. Decentralisation will happen on schedule regardless of the cost or the concerns of opponents," Mr Bruton said.
"As the list of critics of this version of decentralisation
He said that three months on from the announcement, the Minister for Finance still could not answer "even the most basic questions" about the property arrangements for the new divisions proposed in decentralisation. There was no estimate of the number of staff in each organisation willing to make the move, and no estimate of the knock-on changes that will be necessary when people "do not volunteer to go". Mr Bruton said there had been no "risk analysis" of the impact on organisational efficiency of decentralisation.
The Green Party's finance spokesman, Mr Dan Boyle, said the mood of the conference of the Association of Higher Civil and Public servants today proved the Government's decentralisation plan was "in serious crisis".
"The motions being discussed at the association's conference — which correctly describe the
Mr Boyle said the policy had no strategic approach for its implementation or even an explanation as to why it is necessary. Nor did it even estimate its own overall cost.
"Charlie McCreevy's statement that failure to deliver on decentralisation would have 'catastrophic' electoral consequences has revealed the real reason for this policy. This is not about improving the quality of public service provided but rather about increasing public gratitude towards the Government," said Mr Boyle.
mounts — the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants, trade union Amicus, the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, the Irish Planning Institute, the Royal Town Planning Institute, the Society of Chartered Surveyors, and the Institute of Engineers — it is apparent that there never was a strategic plan for decentralisation ." decentralisation policy as 'relocation' — highlight the serious flaws in this policy, which was announced without any consultation with the people it directly affects."