The location of my Department’s offices is as set out in tabular form, together with the number of staff (in full-time equivalent terms) in each location. The Patents Office was established in Kilkenny under a decentralisation programme in the late 1990s; the Carlow office was established under the Government’s decentralisation programme in 2004.
|
Location
|
Number of Staff
(Full time equivalent)
|
|
Dublin
|
628.42
|
|
Carlow (Companies Registration Office and the National Employment Rights Authority(NERA))
|
96.93
|
|
Kilkenny (Patents Office)
|
51.13
|
|
Shannon (NERA)
|
11.00
|
|
Cork (NERA)
|
7.00
|
|
Sligo (NERA)
|
9.00
|
|
Total
|
803.47
|
The detailed level of information sought by the Deputy in relation to travel costs associated solely with travel between our Dublin and non-Dublin locations is not immediately available as travel costs associated with each Office is not recorded in a manner that immediately distinguishes between different categories of business travel. It would require a very significant redirection of Departmental resources to seek to provide dis-aggregated travel data specific only to journeys to and from Dublin for meetings. It should be noted that inspectors for NERA are regionally based and hearings for the Employment Appeals Tribunal are similarly organised. To identify travel or expenses solely incurred on the basis sought would be extremely difficult. I can, however, advise the Deputy that travel and subsistence payments are made in line with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform instructions and travel is only authorised having due regard to value for money. Travel costs between Dublin and the provincial locations are generally paid at the applicable return train fare rates save in exceptional circumstances where an officer is required to transport a significant level of files or equipment to/from Dublin and mileage would accrue in respect of the use by the officer of his/her car.
Finally, Video Conferencing facilities are available in all decentralised offices and in Dublin, and these facilities are regularly used to facilitate staff attending meetings without the need to travel. Likewise, where appropriate, Video Conferencing is also regularly used to conduct business between the Department and our colleagues in the Permanent Representation in Brussels.
