McCreevy vows to decentralise civil servants at all costs
Releasing the first report of the Government’s decentralisation implementation group in Government buildings yesterday Mr McCreevy said every aspect of the plan, announced in December’s Budget, would be completed.
“I want to make it clear that this programme will be delivered in its entirety. there is no question of reconsidering the scale of the programme either because of the location or numbers involved,” he said.
Confirming that the Government wants to have the first civil servants relocated as early as next January Mr McCreevy announced that a Central Applications Facility (CAF) would be up and running on the internet by next month.
The CAF, one of the implementation group’s recommendations, will allow civil servants to apply for decentralisation and choose their locations in order of preference.
Although informal surveys in Government departments have indicated that take up for decentralisation is as low as 20%, the chairman of the implementation group Phil Flynn said he was confident enough civil servants would ultimately volunteer.
“We’re going to wait until July to get any kind of figures,” he said adding that there had been an overwhelming response for some locations already.
However, Sean O’Riordan of the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants (AHCPS) said the Government’s failure to inform the unions of today’s publication was consistent with the way the Government was continually failing to consult its staff.
But the results of a Health and Safety Authority (HSA) survey released yesterday showed more than four-fifths of staff say they do not want to relocate to their designated location in Thomastown, in County Kilkenny. Just 15 of 110 workers said they were willing to move.
