Civil servants offered ‘sweet heart’ deals

CIVIL servants are having to be tempted away from Dublin with “sweet heart” deals because decentralisation is so unpopular, Labour last night insisted.

The Government’s controversial €3 billion relocation scheme is in complete “disarray” according to the party’s finance spokeswoman Joan Burton TD.

As evidence of the initiative’s unpopularity, Ms Burton pointed to the situation in the FÁS agency, where 51 staff out of 400 are to transfer from Dublin to Birr, Offaly, based on promotions being offered.

“When this process was announced we were told there were to be no sweet heart deals or other inducements,” she said.

Ms Burton added that reports senior civil servants in the Foreign Affairs Department’s Development Co-operation Ireland unit had refused to move to Limerick could lead to a “disaster” in overseeing the State’s overseas aid budget.

She insisted the Government should now call a halt to its decentralisation scheme and start again.

It is two years since then Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy promised that 10,000 civil servants would be moved out of the capital by the end of 2006.

The policy has been dogged with controversy as just one in nine civil servants say they want to move with their current job.

Tom Parlon, Minister responsible for the decentralisation, insisted the scheme was now finding its feet.

“There is a very strong interest in decentralisation. Things are moving on very strongly.

“It is entirely voluntary and there are negotiations going on all the time.”

“Already we have 10,500 civil servants who have offered themselves up for decentralisation,” he said.

Mr ParlonHe said added that the original timetable had been “ambitious” and the new target date for completion of the initiative, 2010, was more workable.

The Government says it is confident 1,000 civil servants will have left the capital by the end of next year.