Civil service relocation delays cost €80m a year

DELAYS in plans to relocate 10,000 civil servants outside Dublin is costing the taxpayer up to €80m a year.

Pressure is mounting on the Government to press ahead with decentralising its offices and Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy will be quizzed by opposition parties in the Dáil tomorrow on the status of proposals he made three years ago.

To fund the decentralisation programme, significant savings could be made by giving up office space in the capital. The State either owns or rents a quarter of the office accommodation in Dublin and the Government spends 80 million a year on soaring rents for buildings in the city centre. But this could be dramatically reduced if up to 10,000 civil servants were moved outside the capital as planned.