Almost half Government staff live in Dublin area

JUST under half of the country's civil servants and council staff live in the greater Dublin area, the latest analysis of the 2002 Census revealed yesterday.

It shows that 51,902 people were central and local government workers out of a total labour force of 1.8 million. Of that number, 19,255 were in the capital on the night of the census and a further 5,673 were in Kildare, Meath or Wicklow.

The figures will be seen by the Government as a justification of the decentralisation programme announced in last week's Budget. The scheme, which has received a mixed reaction, envisages moving 10,000 civil service jobs to 53 towns around the country.