The Minister for Finance indicated in his budget 2000 speech that a new programme of decentralisation involving up to 10,000 civil and public servants would be initiated. The previous programme of decentralisation commenced in 1987 and continued through to the 1990s. That programme has involved the relocation of 4,000 civil service posts to 19 centres in 18 counties, as detailed in the appendix to the documentation circulated to committee members. By the end of that programme almost half of the numbers, that is, some 14,000 persons then serving in the Civil Service were located outside Dublin. The target of 10,000 which the Minister indicated in his budget 2000 speech should be viewed in the context of overall public service numbers which amount to 276,000. This figure comprises 96,000 in the health area, 77,000 in education, 34,000 in local authorities, 12,000, 11,000 and 9,000 in the Defence Forces, Garda Síochána and non-commercial State bodies, respectively, together with 35,000 in the Civil Service proper.
Approximately 40% civil servants are now located outside Dublin. In addition, given the nature of the services provided, it follows that a large proportion of health workers, teachers, local authority employees and defence and Garda personnel are also located outside Dublin. For example, in the health area, no less than 58,000 personnel serve in health boards other than the Eastern Regional Health Authority while 7,000 Garda personnel are located outside the Dublin Metropolitan Area. Since the Minister's announcement the Department of Finance has received submissions, representations and inquiries on behalf of some 130 urban centres throughout the country seeking to be included in the new programme. An Agreed Programme for Government states, "We will move forward the progressive decentralisation of Government offices and agencies taking into account the national spatial strategy."
There has been considerable consultation with interested parties and to date that has included bilateral meetings between the Minister for Finance and his colleagues together with the meetings at official level between the Department of Finance and other Departments, and meetings between the Minister for Finance and each of the staff unions to hear the latter's views and concerns. The Government requested the Strategic Management Implementation Group of Secretaries-General to provide advice on how the implementation of the new programme could enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the public service. It also asked heads of relevant Departments to give their views on the experience of their respective Departments with the previous programme of decentralisation. The Minister for Finance invited staff unions to provide advice on the development of criteria for the programme.
The SMI Implementation Group has provided the Government with its views on the factors and criteria that the Government might wish to take into account. It sees as the broad objectives of a new programme: one, the economic and social regeneration of underdeveloped areas; two, the reduction of congestion in Dublin; three, the improvement of service delivery; and four, bringing administration closer to the citizen. The group feels that the following criteria are among those against which functions to be decentralised would need to be assessed. If decentralisation is to contribute to improved delivery of public services it should make business sense for the organisation involved. Accordingly, care should be taken to avoid a multiplicity of physically separate offices housing various functions of the one Department or office on the basis that this could lead to poorer communication within that Department or office, less corporate cohesion, and lower resource flexibility. The selection should focus on departmental units whose existence is viable in the long-term, that is, irrespective of any technological change that is foreseen.
The advantages of placing the areas of work, which might be new to the relevant Department in specifically targeted provincial locations, should be considered. Staff in decentralised offices should be provided with a development path covering such issues as training, work progression and promotion in order to create, and more importantly, retain, vibrant work forces in decentralised offices. The area selected should have an adequate infrastructure, such as residential and office accommodation, an energy supply of high quality and at a good level, and services such as banking, retail, health care and education together with high quality transport links to Dublin. Receiving locations must have the capacity to absorb a significant number of new residents and offices not only as a direct result of a decentralisation programme but also - as decentralisation is intended to be a pump priming initiative - as a result of incoming private sector organisations drawn to provincial locations by the Government's example.
The ability of the management of relevant Government agencies to change management structures and cultures to take account of the decentralisation of some of their functions must be considered. There must be available a higher standard of accommodation than under previous decentralisation initiatives due partly to increased expectations on the part of staff but also due to the major societal changes which have taken place in the interim. For example, the provision of creches and the question of child care would assume much greater importance now than it might have done in the late 1980s.
Given the large scale of decentralisation from Dublin the public service generally must be able to handle potentially very serious human resource problems with staff who choose to remain in Dublin and to move to new organisations within the Dublin area which will undoubtedly have different work cultures and ethos. The potential relevance of individual agencies and parts thereof to e-government, which has the potential to fundamentally alter the way in which Government agencies have traditionally delivered their services, must also be taken into account.
The heads of Departments whom the Government consulted indicated that the following factors ought to be taken into account in the assessment of functions for complete or partial decentralisation. Departments suffered a significant loss of corporate experience as a result of the previous programme as the overwhelming majority of decentralised staff had transferred from other Departments. Therefore, the ability of organisations to select appropriate staff and provide them with a thorough induction on arrival would be vital. Relocated units should provide viable career paths for officers with scope for lateral mobility. This might require functions of various Departments to be established in clusters around the country either in one location or on a regional basis.
It would be essential that there be an overlap between staff serving functions in Dublin, and staff replacing them post-transfer and for ease of administration. Extensive preliminary planning and a long lead-in time would be necessary to ensure minimum disruption to the operation of units and service to the public. The human resource and IT capacity of the Departments would have to be sufficient for the onerous demands placed on them during the decentralisation process. Agencies should have the ability to absorb extra costs, which are inevitable in the short-term at least, to cover training, extra travel, and extra staff and accommodation requirements during the transition period both before, and especially after, the actual moves.
The fourth strand of consideration concerned staff unions. Most unions support decentralisation. However, they have raised concerns on several issues and they have made various suggestions. Among those suggestions are notably the following: the programme should be managed in a manner that would ensure that there would be no adverse impact on the promotional opportunities of the staff remaining in Dublin. There should be a regional promotional structure. In choosing locations particular attention should be given to the Dublin fringe. The idea of having clusters of localised offices should be developed. The known preference of staff for provincial locations should be taken into account as far as possible. The efficiency of administration and the quality of service to the public should be maintained.
Finally, the criteria for choosing locations should be based on social and economic considerations. It should be mentioned in this context that the unions welcomed the Government's assurance that the long-standing voluntary nature of decentralisation would continue. There is significant overlap in the factors and criteria that have been mentioned under the three headings I have listed.
The Department of Finance noted the views of the interested parties outlined in the context of the Government's overarching objectives for the programme that were the improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery, the encouragement of economic activity in the regions and the reduction of congestion in Dublin. In connection with the last factor, the National Spatial Strategy 2002-2020 has indicated that, given a continuation of the existing policy, at least three-quarters of Ireland's projected population increase over the next 20 years or so is likely to happen in or near the greater Dublin area.
At this stage it seems to the Department that the following considerations might be significant in any choice of units or locations for decentralisation: one, units should in general be large and self-contained, sufficient to avoid disruption of agencies' business, and to provide staff with appropriate career opportunities. The places will have to be as attractive as possible as venues in which to live and work not only for decentralised staff but also their spouses, children and partners. Access to Dublin and its airport should be as good as possible to minimise time spent by public servants away from their decentralised units on official business.
The possibility of choosing a location for a particular function or functions of a particular agency with a view to a later transfer of more of the functions of the agency, or perhaps all functions, should be kept in mind. Chosen locations will have to have the necessary facilities of an environmental, infrastructural, housing, education, social and recreational nature and will have to have third level education within reasonable distance to entice public servants. Locations would need to have sufficient critical mass in terms of such facilities both to attract public servants and to be able to absorb their arrival. Centres need to avoid becoming "one-company towns".
The choice of locations will have to be in line with the national spatial strategy and in this regard the strategy has indicated that in order to foster a wide range of enterprise activity and employment creation nationally there needs to be assembled at strategic locations and in a targeted way, critical masses of population which will benefit from effective education, environment, transport, telecommunications, health care and leisure facilities. Looking forward, and considering how best to advance the policy of progressive decentralisation, the Government is likely to want to take account of recent developments in the area of family-friendly policies and the provision of child care support, the potential attractions to many public servants, their spouses and partners, and their dependants, in terms of general life style and quality of life factors, and specific benefits such as lower transport and housing costs in provincial locations. It will also take account of the efficiency improvements that might accrue from possible pooling of common services between Departments, such as accounts and procurement, and the potential benefits to the taxpayer arising from possible savings in Dublin office accommodation costs.
To conclude, it should be emphasised that having taken the above questions into account in its considerations it will be for the Government to decide not only on the extent of the decentralisation programme in terms of the numbers but also the particular functions and units involved and the timescale associated with the implementation of the programme. It should also be emphasised that it will be for the Government too to decide on the extent and timing of the necessary consultative process with all the many interests concerned.
