asked the Minister for the Public Service if he will make a statement of Government policy and plans in respect of transferring Departments to locations outside Dublin, specifying which Departments are involved, the intended location of each, the proposed date of transfer and the number of civil servants involved.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Decentralisation of Government Departments.
69.
The Government's policy on decentralisation is set out in the White Paper Programme for National Development 1978-1981 and in the Taoiseach's Ard-Fheis speech on 16 February 1980. These indicate that the Government have decided in principle that a programme should be implemented for the transfer of over 2,000 civil servants to at least ten medium-sized urban areas in the provinces. The Government have also decided that all new Government sector services will be located outside Dublin unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary. Decisions as regards the sections of Departments to be transferred and the areas in which they will be relocated have not yet been taken by the Government.
Could the Minister indicate when this decision will be forthcoming and if it is intended to accelerate the pace of decentralisation of State Departments and State bodies?
I cannot tell the Deputy exactly when the final decision in relation to the Departments and locations will be taken except to say that it will be taken within the next three or four months or so.
Would the Minister not agree that it is important that all State bodies should have their headquarters outside Dublin when their general business is not in Dublin? Would the Minister not now ask State bodies to transfer their head offices to appropriate centres outside Dublin?
The State bodies would be a matter for somebody else. I can only accept responsibility for the actual civil servants themselves. However, I take the Deputy's point and will be in communication with a number of State bodies in relation to any decisions which may be taken in this matter.
In view of the Minister's reply indicating that a decision will be taken within the next four months and that consequently that decision will be made before the Dáil sits again, would the Minister be in a position now to indicate (a) what Departments are involved, (b) the number of Staff who are likely to be decentralised, (c) the locations where the staff are to go and (d) if the trade unions involved have consented in principle to the answers in questions (a), (b) and (c)?
I am sorry that I cannot give the Deputy any definitive answers to the questions he has raised. I can only assure him that there will be no compulsion to transfer, that the transfers will be given only on the basis of agreement. The questions of the Departments being transferred and locations are still a matter for Government decision.
Final supplementary question, Deputy Quinn. Time is up.
We have the problem where decisions will be made finally in three to four months but at the moment we can get no information. Could the Minister indicate if there is a short list of (a) the number of Departments, (b) the likely number of staff, (c) the likely locations?
I can give the Deputy——
A final reply, it has gone over the time.
——the information that the programme should be implemented for the transfer of over 2,000 people. I am sorry that that is all the information I can give.
And the Minister seriously proposes to wrap it up in three months?
Would the Minister consider seeking the transfer of Dublin Corporation and thereby saving Wood Quay?
That is a separate question.
That is a matter for Dublin Corporation and the bodies that control them.
Would the Minister consider Ballina as a location?
(Interruptions.)
Please, Deputies. Question Time has ended for this session and as we are adjourning today for the summer recess written replies will be given to the remaining questions. If any Deputy wishes to have his questions left on the Order Paper for oral answer after the recess he should inform the General Office accordingly by 6 p.m. today.