Under the decentralisation programme, property negotiations have been completed or significantly advanced in 23 locations. In the case of five locations — Athlone, the Curragh, Navan, Furbo and Sligo — OPW owned sites have been identified and will be used to accommodate decentralised offices.
In the case of another four locations — Carlow, Longford, Newcastle West and Killarney — sites have been acquired from the relevant local authorities. Privately owned sites have been purchased in Buncrana, Tipperary and Clonakilty. In the case of Tullamore the OPW has entered into an agreement to purchase an office block when it is completed in September 2006. Contracts for sale have been received in a further ten locations, including Donegal, Dungarvan, Knock, Portarlington, Portlaoise, Thurles, Carrick-on-Shannon, Trim, Thomastown and Cavan.
The total purchase cost for the 18 non-OPW owned sites is estimated at €35.7 million. Of this amount, approximately €13 million is in respect of sites acquired from local authorities and State agencies. The total amount spent to date in 2005 is €12.62 million. The Office of Public Works has taken short-term leases in Portlaoise, Newcastle West, Thurles and Tipperary to accommodate advance parties. The annual cost of these leases is approximately €649,216.
Decentralisation will be implemented through the transfer of staff on a voluntary basis. There will be no redundancies and, as on previous occasions, the payment of removal or relocation expenses will not arise. However, consultations will be held with the public service union on an ongoing basis in order to address the concerns of all staff affected by the programme.
