The Minister of State is well aware of the matter I am raising. It dates back to the original proposal to permanently decentralise the Central Fisheries Board, based in Mobhi Boreen in Glasnevin in the constituency I share with the Taoiseach, to Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim. I do not know if the Minister of State has information on whether that is still the proposal. Certainly it has not been acted upon for a considerable period.
The Minister of State will be aware that this proposal would affect 60 people. The Central Fisheries Board has been in its present location for more than 20 years. Decentralisation is a voluntary matter. All the conditions negotiated by the trade union movement with the civil servants would apply, if the board were permanently decentralised.
However, out of the blue the position has changed. Temporary compulsory relocation is now the order of the day in relation to block A and block B in Maynooth. This arose out of a survey carried out by the Office of Public Works's special project unit on 16 January. It determined that the existing premises were in an abysmal condition. I am amazed that this suddenly dawned on the people concerned. The conditions described in the report are as bad as one could find. It states that the buildings were poorly converted, there are prefab buildings, it is virtually impossible to upgrade the structure, the structure does not conform to modern fire regulations, it is in breach of health and safety standards and the report also refers to portable heaters, electricity failure and to the laboratory facilities being totally inadequate. It is amazing how the staff manage to carry out their work, given this plethora of failures in the system and shortfalls in terms of accommodation, even to the extent of the existence of asbestos wall panels and an inadequate fire alarm system and external lighting.
It seems amazing that these inadequate conditions should suddenly have dawned on the people concerned. The dire conditions in the premises could not have happened overnight. Does it not represent gross negligence that no effort was made to improve conditions or to undertake repairs prior to this?
When the board met on 7 February, it decided that all the staff should be relocated block A and block B of the business park in Maynooth, irrespective of whether they like it or not. The board stated at its last meeting that should the relocation to block B not have taken place by the next board meeting scheduled for 6 March, the board in light of the present circumstances will give serious consideration to determining a date by which Balnagowan should be vacated. The board is putting the gun to the heads of all the workers in the Central Fisheries Board in Glasnevin. The staff there are facing involuntary temporary relocation. It is up in the air as to what is happening in terms of the permanent relocation, transfer or decentralisation of the board to Carrick-on-Shannon.
The Fisheries Act 1980 is specific in relation to the transfer conditions that would be enjoyed by the staff in such a situation. Subsection (3) of the relevant section states that a member of the central board's transferred staff shall not, while in the service of the central board, receive less remuneration or be subject to less than official conditions of service than the remuneration to which he was entitled and the conditions of service to which, immediately before his transfer by virtue of this section, he was subject to in the service from which he was so transferred. Will the members of staff who are being compulsorily transferred to Maynooth be subject to these conditions? It seems the board has no intention of extending the conditions of the 1980 Act to them. It also seems that the board has no intention of negotiating with SIPTU any normal arrangements in relation to compensation, voluntary early retirement or severance pay.
What about retention of the existing allocation of offices? If the staff are to embark on one relocation, will they then be subject to another? Will the Minister of State give a clear-cut answer as to his intentions for the staff of the Central Fisheries Board?