Under the Government's recently announced decentralisation programme, the Development Co-operation Directorate of the Department of Foreign Affairs is scheduled for decentralisation to Limerick. This will involve the relocation to Limerick of some 130 posts. Departmental staff are also expected to apply to decentralise to some of the other 52 centres.
The Deputy will be aware that, in addition to a passport office in Cork and a new passport facility being established in Balbriggan, this Department also has 67 resident diplomatic and consular missions abroad, with which Dublin-based staff liaise on a daily basis, by e-mail, fax, telephone and video conference facility. The decision to relocate the Development Co-operation Directorate to Limerick does not, therefore, pose any exceptional problem for the efficient and effective operation of the Department in general, or the directorate itself in particular.
The decentralisation programme poses certain challenges for the Department. I am confident that, with careful planning, these challenges will be met. Measures to minimise potential risks to efficiency and effectiveness, particularly in the period leading up to, during and following the decentralisation to Limerick, will be planned and overseen by the Department's recently established decentralisation committee.