My Department is required to relocate 250 posts to Carlow under the Government's Decentralisation Programme and this is planned to occur by the end of 2009. In order to accommodate staff who wish to move earlier than the projected building completion date of late 2009, officials of my Department, in consultation with the Department of Finance and the OPW, as well as decentralising staff and Business Units, are progressing an earlier move to Carlow. The OPW have advised my Department that negotiations on the procurement of interim accommodation to facilitate an advance move are nearing completion.
I expect this advance move option to allow for the movement of approximately 80 decentralising staff to Carlow during the second quarter of 2007, on a voluntary basis. The number of posts in Business Units decentralising to Carlow, as at 19th February, is 280. My Department currently has 99 Carlow-bound applicants assigned within the Department, with a further 74 Carlow-bound applicants yet to be assigned to the Department. It is hoped to have all decentralising posts filled in sufficient time to ensure that staff are adequately trained in advance of the move to Carlow. No staff from my Department have relocated to Carlow, to date. As no staff have transferred from a non-Dublin office to Dublin as part of the initial transfer, the other issues raised by the Deputy do not apply.
