Decentralisation to create 140 jobs

November 2003

ARKLOW is set to get 140 Government jobs under a decentralisation package announced by Charlie McCreevy in his budget yesterday.

It will be the first time for County Wicklow to get a slice of the decentralisation cake when the National Standards Authority of Ireland from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is moved to the seaside town.

However, Fine Gael’s Billy Timmins descrobed the level of decentralisation for Arklow as a ‘kick in the teeth’ for the county, considering that Wexford is getting 500 and Westmeath 445 jobs.

He said that in his Budget speech the Finance Minister said that approximately 10,000 jobs are being decentralised but Arklow is only getting a little over one per cent of them.

He called on Junior Minister Dick Roche to explain why he has so little influence and what role, if any, he had to play in this.