On foot of a Government decision in 1992, a portion of my Department, namely the General Register's Office — GRO — decentralised to Roscommon in 1996. In order to retain an acceptable level of service to the public, and to allow for the modernisation of the service provided by the GRO including the introduction of new legislation and information technology, it was decided to proceed with the decentralisation on a phased basis.
There are now 40 staff employed in the decentralised office. Of this number, three staff transferred from my Department, six staff were directly recruited, and the balance of 31 transferred from other Departments. It is not possible to give accurate information concerning people changes and job changes until the decentralisation of the GRO is completed. The once-off set-up cost to my Department, which consisted of furniture, floor coverings etc., amounted to €195,000.
Work is now under way on a new office building in Roscommon which will be completed by the end of 2004. The decentralisation of the remainder of the GRO will be completed in spring of 2005.