I propose to take Questions Nos. 85, 93 and 129 together.
Under the Government decentralisation programme, all sections of my Department currently located in Dublin will move to decentralised locations. The senior management and headquarters of the Department will move to Drogheda and other sections will relocate to Buncrana, 120; Donegal town , 230; Carrick-on-Shannon, 225, and Sligo, 100. The Department's information systems division will also be relocated, though the location has yet to be determined. In addition, the Combat Poverty Agency and Comhairle, agencies under the aegis of my Department, will be relocated to Monaghan and Carrickmacross respectively.
My Department has experience of the issues associated with decentralisation, having previously relocated functions and staff out of Dublin to Sligo, Letterkenny, Longford, Waterford and Dundalk. The new programme of decentralisation will involve major change and a key objective will be to ensure that it is implemented in a planned way and with due regard to the effects on staff and the maintenance of high standards of service. A project management structure has been established to manage the decentralisation programme within the organisation. The structure will support the two phases of the decentralisation programme, that is, the development of an overall departmental strategy and the development and implementation of plans for decentralising individual sections.
A detailed plan covering all aspects of the decentralisation process is currently being prepared. This plan will set out: the sequence of each relocation; staff placement and training plans; the estimated resources required to complete the project; the risks associated with the project and the contingency plans to deal with those risks. In addition to the preparation of this plan, the Office of Public Works, OPW, is currently in the process of securing suitable accommodation in each of the seven locations. It is expected that details of the accommodation in each of the decentralised locations will be available shortly.
As an input to the planning process, a survey of all staff in my Department was conducted to establish initial indications of interest in the new locations. There were 3,046 responses to the survey, which represents 64% of the 4,770 staff in the organisation. The position as regards expressions of interest is: Drogheda — 120 staff; Buncrana — 15 staff; Donegal town — 51 staff; Carrick-on-Shannon — 149 staff; Sligo — 24 staff; Monaghan — four staff and Carrickmacross — 16 staff. In all, 379 indicated a wish to move from their existing location to one of this Department's new decentralised office and a further 586 wish to move to a decentralised venue in another Department.
While the survey provides a useful initial indication of staff preferences, it is recognised that the decisions which people make are likely to change as the implementation of the programme proceeds. To date, staff surveys have not been carried out in either the Combat Poverty Agency or Comhairle.
Decentralisation arrangements are being co-ordinated and controlled at a national level by the decentralisation implementation group — DIG. This group recently published a report outlining the general timeframes, strategies and procedures that are being put in place to deliver the decentralisation programme. All applications for the decentralised locations will be handled by the Civil Service Commission through the central application facility — CAF. This process is expected to commence shortly. By that stage it is also expected that the OPW will have finalised the accommodation arrangements in a number of locations.
A final date for the completion of the decentralisation programme will not be known until the CAF process is completed and suitable accommodation has been identified in the decentralised locations. However, it is expected that the programme will be substantially completed by 2006. My Department will report progress on the plan on a regular basis to the implementation committee, which will report in turn to the special Cabinet sub-committee which is overseeing the decentralisation programme as a whole.
