Experts to focus on reluctance

OUTSIDE experts will be hired to hold focus groups to find out why civil servants don't want to leave Dublin.

As speculation mounted all week that the Government's decentralisation plans would be scaled down and the timetable pushed back, the Taoiseach yesterday reiterated the commitment to carrying out bulk of the relocation within three years.

However, the latest report from the group overseeing decentralisation did not contain any details on the time frame for the roll-out of the programme. The second report by the Decentralisation Implementation Group prompted Mr Ahern to again confirm that the plan to move 10,200 public servants to 53 locations the country would go ahead.