Decentralisation promise 4% fulfilled as deadline passes

ONLY 4% of the 10,000 civil servants earmarked for decentralisation had actually transferred out of Dublin at the beginning of this month, the date by which the entire programme was to be completed.

A meeting of the Oireachtas Finance Committee heard yesterday that between 700-800 civil servants have moved location to date, about half of whom (350-400) have decentralised from Dublin.

Labour’s finance spokesperson Joan Burton, who raised the issue contended that former Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy vowed that all 10,000 posts would be decentralised by December 2006, the third anniversary of his December 2003, Budget Day announcement.

She noted that Mr McCreevy, announcing the move, had said that if it was not implemented by December 2006 that the Government did not deserve to be re-elected.

“It was a political stroke, a stroke that is still in intensive care, not totally mobile yet,” she claimed.

The Committee was discussing progress in the ambitious project to move over 7,000 civil servants and 3,000 employees of State agencies with Finbarr Flood, the chairman of the Decentralisation Implementation Group (DIG) and officials from the Department of Finance and the Office of Public Works (OPW).

The committee is split along party lines, with Government deputies commending progress on decentralisation, while opposition members condemned the failure of the McCreevy plan to meet its original deadline.

Mr Flood, in a strongly-argued presentation drew a distinction between the initial McCreevy plan and the programme as it is now being rolled out.

He said that he was dismayed at the focus on deadlines.

“Let me be clear, my focus is not how speedily this can be achieved, but how well. This does not imply delay but sensible and measured planning,” he said.

He pointed to the complexity of the programme, which involves not just general grade civil servants, but also professional and technical grades, State Agency employees as well as members of the Defence Forces and the Gardaí.

The assessment of the DIG, he said, was that the plan is “progressing satisfactorily.”

To date, over 2,300 have been assigned to decentralising posts in advance of transferring and that 1,000 will have actually moved to 20 locations by early 2007.