Decentralisation on schedule despite civil servants’ take-up

CONSTRUCTION work will have started by this time next year on 16 of the 53 State departments and agencies selected for decentralisation, it was disclosed yesterday by the group implementing the ambitious plan.

However, Fine Gael immediately raised the spectre that the take-up by public servants is so low that departments and agencies will be operating out of half-filled buildings.

Finbar Flood, chairman of the Decentralisation Implementation Board (DIB), told the Oireachtas all-party committee on finance yesterday that 4,000 staff would have moved out of Dublin by the end of 2008 and 7,000 by the end of 2009.

While pointing out that an additional 1,200 to 1,400 people had made applications after the deadline, he acknowledged State agencies and semi-state companies would pose problems.

Some 720 staff from seven State agencies had been identified as “early movers” but he said there were still a number of outstanding issues.

He said it was essential to address the concerns of all staff in agencies, including management.

He reiterated the DIB’s view that a “more tailored approach” was required for agencies.

In an upbeat assessment, Mr Flood said he had received no indication from departmental secretary generals that the plan to move 10,300 public servants could not be achieved.

But Fine Gael said the fact that commitments were made in relation to three-quarters of the buildings, even though eight out of nine people did not want to move, created a worry.

Richard Bruton said: “There is a problem down the track of half-filled buildings.”

He said many buildings in Dublin due to be vacated will still be occupied by staff who do not want to move.

He also criticised the fact that no assessment had been made until now on what the non-property costs would be.

He suggested the costs of re-training and transfer would be a huge component, adding that two years into the programme was “a bit late in the day” to begin evaluation of this.

“We need to take a practical and hard-headed look. We need to be willing to put hands up and say it’s too complex,” he said.

He said only one out of 90 wanted to move from the National Roads Authority, two out of 100 from the Aviation Authority and five out of 100 from the Valuations Office.

Mr Flood said the problems were “not different than in any big organisation.”