Madam, - In recent days we have witnessed a very unseemly scramble in our constituency of Laois-Offaly, with local politicians in our Government parties claiming credit for bringing decentralisation to Portarlington.
Our committee of six volunteers came together late in 1999 and brought forward a plan to bring decentralisation to the town.
We set the agenda, we published a comprehensive report, we had a public meeting, we lobbied our politicians, our two county councils (we are a "border" town) and so on.
We fought on behalf of our town for nearly four years. We had one goal: work to bring a decentralised Government office to Portarlington.
Politicians came in behind us and gave us their support. We acknowledge this. However, whatever party and politician is responsible for the decision to relocate four State bodies in our town, let it not be forgotten that it was not politicians who fought the battle to place our town on the decentralisation agenda.
It was local people, in their own time, using their own resources, who spurred on their politicians and public officials, and eventually gained proper recognition for the town and locality.
We would have been waiting a long time for our public representatives to do what we did in a unified, coherent fashion.
I am sure that our story is replicated all across the country, in most of the 53 locations identified in the decentralisation plan.
Politicians take note: it was not all your idea; you did not do all the work for this.
When you claim credit, can you for once just step out of re-election mode and remember your local constituents who are on the ground trying to improve their villages, towns and counties, and who have been beating down your doors for this for four years?
We are claiming the real credit . . . but can you now really deliver? - Yours, etc.,
FRANK SMITH, Secretary, Portarlington Decentralisation Action Committee, Co Laois.
Madam, - I am a retired bank official. I joined the service of the bank in 1965 and between then and 1984 I served in eight different locations. I married in 1971 and when we arrived in Carrick on Shannon 13 years later, we moved into our ninth residence. Our eldest son, who was just beginning secondary education at that time, had been educated in four different primary schools, one of which was an Irish- speaking school.
The quid pro quo for this disruption was the fact that the bank guaranteed me security of employment, plenty of promotional opportunities and a salary which afforded us a comfortable lifestyle and the wherewithal to educate our children to the standard we would wish for them. In particular, the security of employment factor was one which was not lost on me in the 1970s and 1980s when I watched clients and friends lose their children to forced emigration.
At all times, I clearly understood that I was was employed in "the service of the bank" and that any reasonable needs of my employer had to be met.
I think it might be useful for people in the Civil Service who cavil at the recent announcements on decentralisation to ponder the fact that they are "servants of the State" and to consider the benefits that have accrued to them for that service and that the State is now making a reasonable request in return for those benefits.
Whatever the political rights or wrongs of the decision, it is obvious that these people have an enormous amount to contribute to the communities to which they have been assigned and, with the right response from them, decentralisation can only be a win-win situation.
Oh, and by the way, having lived in Carrick on Shannon for 19 years, I can only say to the 264 civil servants who are to join this community - you lucky people! - Yours etc.,
JOHN McDWYER, Summerhill, Carrick on Shannon, Co Leitrim.
Madam, - In the real world that the rest of us toil in, if your employer tells you you are going to a different county, even country, you go or you find a new job. That's life, it happens, get on with it. - Yours etc.,
THOMAS KELLY, Adelaide Square, Whitefriars St, Dublin 8.