Vol. 431 No. 2
39 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for the Marine if he will give a breakdown of the total cost involved to date for his Department under the Government's current programme of decentralisation; if he will clarify the costs and relevant payments to personnel with regard to the relocation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The Department of the Marine has not incurred any costs to date under the Government's current programme of decentralisation.
Will the Minister make a statement to the House, or in public, on his Department's current policy on decentralisation? There is growing concern that the current policy is simply a matter of shifting jobs from one part of the country to another, that there is no real net benefit and that there may well be a net cost to the economy? Is that policy under review?
If and when the matter becomes critical, in the sense of a decision arising, I will bring the matter before the House or the relevant select committee. It is intertesting to note that the Department of the Marine is already decentralised with offices in Cork where there is a district engineer, a marine survey office and a mercantile marine office. The accounts section is located in Castlebar. In Galway we have a district engineer and at Dún Laoghaire, at the five fishery harbour centres at Killybegs, Rossaveel, Castletownbere, Dunmore East and Howth. In addition, the Department's sea fishery officers and fish quality officers are based at various locations around the coast. We also have a marine survey unit tucked away at Eden Quay in the city of Dublin where there are approximately 20 staff. Effectively the Department of the Marine is, if anything, over decentralised. Almost one-third of its existing staff is outside dublin. Enough is enough so far as we are concerned.
