Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 November 2004
380 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of persons who have applied to be moved to Portarlington under decentralisation; if Portarlington will be included in the first tranche of decentralisation; the estimated time for completion of the programme to Portarlington; if a location has been found and approved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29463/04]
View answerAs part of the Government's decentralisation programme two areas of my Department, the Data Protection Commissioner's office and the Equality Tribunal will decentralise to Portarlington. Based on the decentralisation central applications facility data of 7 September 2004, 21 civil servants and one public servant have nominated the Data Protection Commissioner's office as their first preference and 19 civil servants and three public servants have nominated the Equality Tribunal as their first preference for decentralisation.
The CAF will remain open for the receipt of applications until such time as the decentralisation programme has been implemented in full. The decentralisation implementation group is expected to report to the Cabinet sub-committee on decentralisation outlining its views on sequencing and timing later this month. An estimated date for completion of the programme to Portarlington will not be available until the deliberations of the Cabinet sub-committee are published.
The evaluation of property solutions to fulfil the accommodation brief for the staff decentralising to Portarlington is currently at an advanced stage. A number of sites have been short-listed and the process of evaluation of these sites by the Office of Public Works is at an advanced stage. When this process is completed, formal negotiations will commence with the respective owners of these sites.
