Only 46 of 2,300 State agency workers agree to decentralisation

ONLY 46 of the 2,300 employees in State agencies whose jobs are being decentralised have agreed to follow their own jobs down the country.

That detail emerged as senior officials from nine unions representing public servants told an Oireachtas committee yesterday that there were varying degrees of opposition among their members to the controversial transfer of 10,300 public servants from Dublin, as the plan is currently conceived.

The officials expressed broad concerns about the lack of a business plan underpinning outgoing Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy’s proposals, the lack of consultation with unions, and the career implications for those who wish to remain in Dublin.

Several of the representatives referred to the startlingly low number of applications for relocation.

It was pointed out that a significant proportion of those who have applied are already living and working outside Dublin, having being previously relocated.

When those are excluded, the figures show only 7.5% of Dublin-based civil servants want to move.

For the State agencies, the take-up is even more dismal: according to Seán Ó Ríordáin of the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants (AHCPS), it is in the order of only 2%.

The Oireachtas finance committee heard of several relocation plans that were particularly problematic.

Roger Hannon of the Transport Salaried Staff’s Association said the plan envisaged 200 Bus Éireann employees transferring from Dublin to Mitchelstown, Co Cork.

However, only 80-90 positions of the 200 at the bus company’s HQ could possibly be transferred, as the remainder are employees - such as inspectors - whose jobs are specific to Dublin.

He said only one employee of the company had expressed any interest in moving and his members had endorsed a motion stating they “were not interested in transferring anywhere”.

The problems associated with moving specialist staff at State agencies also featured prominently. Citing one example, Peter Nolan of IMPACT said that, on the face of it, there seemed to be 100% take-up for the 102 positions in the Probation and Welfare Services in Navan.

“But 70-80 of the positions are probation officers. We know that not one probation officer wants to go to Navan, as of July,” he said.

Blair Horan of the Civil and Public Service Union said take-up among clerical officer and staff officer grade in the civil service was almost 100% but the interest was less with higher grades.

“We expect that, if positions are offered on promotion, there will be a significant take-up,” he said.

He entered a caveat, saying the career opportunities of those who remain in Dublin must also be guaranteed.

Mr Ó Ríordáin said his members were dismayed at the manner in which decisions were taken without prior consultation. He said a more realistic timeframe for the plan should be 10-15 years.

Mr Nolan argued that, if there was “no interest in State Agencies very dependent on specialist grades, they should be removed from the list [of agencies to be decentralised]”.

Patricia King of SIPTU echoed his views, saying that the level of interest in the 28 State agencies was “virtually nil”.