Following the announcement of the decentralisation programme in last year's budget, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment undertook a survey to gauge the level of interest in the programme among its staff. Approximately 50% of staff responded to the survey, the results of which indicated that 32% of respondents were interested in moving to the various locations identified in the decentralisation programme. Surveys have been conducted by some of the agencies operating under the aegis of the Department which have been identified for decentralisation to establish staff interest in relocation. The surveys concentrated on the specific location to which agencies are relocating, as opposed to the new locations announced in the budget 2004. The responses do not, therefore, provide a complete picture of the willingness of staff of the agencies to relocate under the decentralisation programme. I am confident that information emerging from the central applications facility, which was launched on 12 May, will provide a more reliable and realistic indication of the number of staff in the public service who are willing to relocate under the decentralisation programme.
