Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 February 2006
57 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of principal development specialists, senior development specialists and development specialists with Development Co-operation Ireland volunteering to decentralise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7219/06]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the Government's decentralisation programme, the development co-operation directorate of the Department of Foreign Affairs, currently based in Dublin, will decentralise to Limerick. This is scheduled to take place during the first quarter of 2007 and will involve the relocation to Limerick of 124 posts.
A total of 26 posts in the directorate, including that of director general, are filled by officers who have signalled their intention to decentralise to Limerick and 15 officers serving elsewhere in the Department, mostly abroad, have also expressed an interest in doing so. This total of 41 represents 33% of the posts being transferred to Limerick. The aim is that by the second half of 2006 most posts in the directorate will be filled by staff who will decentralise to Limerick.
Of the 24 specialist posts attached to the directorate at headquarters, three are designated as principal development specialist, 12 as senior development specialist and nine as development specialists. Five officers included in the above total of 41 are development specialists, of whom four were recruited since the announcement of the decentralisation programme in December 2003 and one applied via the CAF, the central applications facility. Two senior development specialists and a further four development specialists, who had also applied to decentralise to Limerick, have since withdrawn their applications. No applications have been received to date for the three principal development specialist posts.
It is my hope that a greater number of specialists will, in time, volunteer to decentralise to Limerick. Discussions are ongoing with representatives of the specialists, their union, IMPACT, and the Department of Finance about the conditions of service that will be applicable to specialists transferring to Limerick and to those who choose to remain in Dublin. These discussions also have a wider Civil Service dimension.
I am not against decentralisation which I regard as having an important role in regional development. If handled properly it will be completely in line with the Government's national spatial strategy. However the shambolic manner in which the decentralisation programme is being handled is a cause for worry on a number of fronts. It seems the decentralisation of DCI, Development Co-operation Ireland, has gone into reverse. In response to my parliamentary question asked last December, the Minister stated that 28 out of 123 DCI staff had applied for decentralisation but in a response given in January, the number was 24 out of 123 staff. The Minister of State now informs the House that approximately six development specialists have withdrawn their applications and the matter is now one for discussion between the Department and the trade unions.
Has the Minister of State taken into consideration the views of the non-governmental organisations which have expressed concern about the situation whereby at a time when the overseas aid programme is expanding rapidly, there will be a serious loss of intellectual memory in Development Co-operation Ireland? Has the Minister of State been in negotiations with the NGOs about their concerns? A statement by the Minister for Foreign Affairs last January contained an implied threat that staff who did not decentralise would be replaced. This is not the way to conduct a sensitive decentralisation programme of an important arm of the development aid programme.
I have great pleasure in defending my senior colleague, the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern. He did not seek in any fashion to threaten staff and that would be a very wrong assumption for the Deputy to make.
The Department has taken very strong proactive measures to minimise the threat raised by the Deputy of corporate loss of memory. Specific measures have been taken to protect the development division against such an occurrence because of this very difficult move to Limerick, which will be executed in early 2007. I outlined some of the measures to the House on the last occasion I replied to questions. These measures will include hand-over periods of one month before a member of staff is replaced by another person who will be decentralised to Limerick. This has proved useful to new staff joining the Department who have been learning about their new positions from the person they will be replacing.
The Department has conducted an audit at official level to ensure all relevant documentation which may be required by those coming from the wider Civil Service and decentralising to Limerick will be captured accurately and to ensure the corporate memory, as referred to by Deputy Allen, will be intact and protected in a positive way. The documentary knowledge and the expertise and knowledge of the fine diplomats who have worked overseas and at headquarters which relates to the development programme will be protected.
The Deputy asked whether I had consulted the NGOs. I regularly consult NGOs on the subject of decentralisation. They have their view and I have mine, and I and my senior colleague have a job to do. Decentralisation is a Government policy decision and we will do our best to ensure it happens within the ambitious timeframe of early 2007.
I reassure the Deputy opposite that there is good news about a site in Limerick which has been identified by the Office of Public Works as a location for the division when decentralisation occurs. The Department is very pleased with the numbers of staff who have opted to decentralise. A total of 42 people represents 33% of the staff requirement that will be needed in Limerick, which will be 123 posts. That is a good level at this stage. This process started in September 2005 when a total of 13 people had volunteered to go to Limerick but the figure has now risen to 41.
The Deputy is correct that the numbers fluctuate. Since he asked his last parliamentary question there has been a drop because, as the Deputy correctly pointed out, a number of the specialists withdrew their names and were unwilling to decentralise because they required more clarity on the issue of their conditions of work and service. It is not uncommon for the numbers to fluctuate from month to month and they may increase or decrease. It is the case that some people apply for decentralisation but other offers come their way within the wider decentralisation process and they pursue their ambitions in other Departments. The development specialists who have withdrawn their names have a specific issue about their conditions of service and the Deputy will be aware this is a matter for a European court to determine. Wider implications for the Civil Service——
It sounds shambolic.
