Charlie McCreevy's decentralisation announcement keeps the budget in the headlines. Five days after the budget, the Minister assures his critics that the notion is not rocket science and that the Government will ensure that it works.

McCreevy described decentralisation as "quite a simple thing to do". He continues by saying "it will work and the government will ensure that it will".

A RTÉ News at One report featuring Charlie McCreevy defending plans for decentralisation.

The image accompanying this clip shows Fianna Fáil Minister for Finance Charlie McCreevy delivering his budget speech in Dail Eireann on 3 December, 2003.

Copyright RTÉ. This material may not be replicated in any form or manner without the prior express permission of RTÉ. Any form of reproduction in print, television, video, multimedia, web site or other electronic media or any form of dissemination for commercial or non-commercial use must be licensed by the RTÉ Archives.

If you wish to licence video or audio clips, still images or text, or would like further guidance please contact us.

RTÉ Archives are committed to respecting the copyright of others and have attempted to source and credit the copyright owners of all material used here. RTÉ would like to hear from any copyright owners who are not properly identified here so that the necessary corrections can be made. If you feel your copyright has not been respected please contact us.