This month Office of Public Works has announced further progress towards the provision of permanent accommodation in Mullingar for my Department in that it has just invited a consortium to become the successful tenderer for a decentralisation accommodation project to include Mullingar.
To date no decision has been taken as to whether a number of posts will be located into temporary accommodation in Mullingar in advance of the full decentralisation of 300 posts into the new permanent accommodation. As I have previously indicated, the issue is re-examined from time to time.
The relocation of posts in my Department from Dublin to Athlone will take place next year, so my Department will be relocating 400 posts from Dublin into new permanent accommodation in Athlone and Mullingar over a period of approximately 2 years. The capacity of my Department to manage its business if this process is accelerated by sending an advance number of posts to temporary accommodation in Mullingar is a major consideration in deciding whether it is appropriate to relocate a number of posts into temporary accommodation in Mullingar in advance of the full move of 300 posts into the new permanent accommodation.