Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 September 2004
8 Ms McManus asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will report on the work undertaken to date by the internal implementation team within his Department dealing with decentralisation; his views on whether State agencies operating under the aegis of his Department may suffer a loss of key expertise if the move goes ahead; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22573/04]
View answerMy Department's decentralisation unit is co-operating actively with the decentralisation implementation group and the Department of Finance in regard to the decentralisation programme announced in the budget for 2004. An implementation plan covering all aspects of the decentralisation process for my Department has been submitted to the group. The Office of Public Works, which has general responsibility for property management in connection with the programme, is liaising with my Department on the Department's four new decentralised locations.
My Department is committed to developing innovative approaches to information management, communications and logistics to maintain and improve the quality of service to be delivered under decentralised arrangements and to minimise disruption. Its decentralisation unit is also facilitating full and timely communication with staff of the Department on the progress of the decentralisation programme through the Department's partnership committee and otherwise.
Two state agencies under the aegis of my Department are included in the decentralisation programme. The National Building Agency submitted its decentralisation implementation plan to the implementation group on 31 May. As the decision in relation to the new location for the Local Government Computer Services Board was not announced until 8 July, the board is in the process of finalising its decentralisation implementation plan. Each agency is required to put in place skills and knowledge transfer arrangements, such as in-house training and external courses and programmes, to upskill new staff to maintain and improve the quality of service to be delivered under decentralised arrangements.
I thank the Minister for his reply. I have studied the figures published by the central applications facility which demonstrate that, for the 661 jobs which are to be decentralised to the four locations, only 38 applicants are from within the Department. Having regard to the Minister's statement about the desirability to minimise disruption in the Department, what assessment has been made in his Department of the likely disruption to the work of the Department if only 38 of the Department's existing staff will be there after decentralisation and more than 600 staff will be reallocated to other Departments? Has the Accounting Officer of the Department carried out a formal risk assessment taking into account the impact of the decentralisation proposal on service to the public and the general work of the Department? How does the Minister propose to minimise disruption, to use his own phrase, if, of the 661 staff, only 38 will move and more than 600 are reallocated to the 14 other Departments of State?
While I am not in a position to answer the question on risk assessment, I will seek the relevant information for the Deputy and communicate it to him. The four locations intended to benefit from decentralisation, Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny and New Ross, stand to gain 270, 225, 62 and 127 positions, respectively. There appears to be a discrepancy between the two sets of figures as one adds up to 681, while the other adds up to 661. The latter figure is correct because it refers to the number of staff below principal officer.
The Deputy is correct that the overall summary of applications has varied. For example, applications have been made for 92% of posts in Wexford, Kilkenny is oversubscribed with 124 applications——
The applications have not been received from within the Department.
That is correct. They are from across the range of Departments. Obviously programmes will have to be put in place, including one to train and retrain staff. This will be done as part of the process. As regards the Local Government Computer Services Board, the process is not complete. While I do not have final figures, it is clear that a considerable amount of training, retraining and redeployment of personnel will be required. This is all part of the decentralisation process.
I remind the House that we have discussed decentralisation for 40 years. The first occasion on which we had a debate on the issue was 1964 and 40 years later we are still discussing it. If anything indicates the paralysis from which we suffer when we have an idea worth implementing, it is the issue of decentralisation. This is the first Government to put together a programme to deliver it. We all subscribe to the concept of decentralisation, although what we are doing is closer to deconcentration.
I do not want to start a debate about the general theory of decentralisation. My question specifically relates to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. How will the Department work efficiently if only 38 of the applicants for the 661 jobs to be decentralised to Kilkenny, New Ross, Waterford and Wexford are from the Department? These positions cover highly specialised areas. I do not understand how someone dealing with pensions in the Defence Forces today will be retrained to deal with complex water and sewerage schemes tomorrow.
The theory on which public administration has operated since the 1920s is that we have general service staff who are regarded as broadly transferable.
This is not the 1920s.
The Deputy has some experience in this matter and will be aware that we have career arrangements in place by which people are promoted and move from one section to another over time. Nobody is suggesting that decentralisation will be anything other than challenging but the challenge will have to be met.
I look forward to hearing how it will be met.
We will get a series of lectures.
The Taoiseach obviously views the Minister in the same light — as broadly transferable.
Question No. 9 answered with Question No. 7.
