Decentralisation: no going back

THE Government this week emphasised its determination to go ahead with the massive decentralisation plan which would pluck 655 agri-food related public servants out of their Dublin offices and scatter them around the country.

The re-location of the Department of Agriculture and Food out of its Kildare St, Dublin headquarters is likely to play a central role in the plan, because Agriculture House is the most likely location for the centralised suite of offices, close to the Houses of the Oireachtas, where Ministers with headTuarters outside of Dublin will be provided with a secretariat, so they can conduct business while in Dublin and when the Dáil is in session.

Decentralisation may also be central to a government plan to raise millions of euros by selling or leasing landmark State-owned building, including the Office of Public Works (OPW) headquarters on Stephen's Green in Dublin.