The Health and Safety Authority is to move 110 posts to Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny. To date a total of 62 people (11 HSA staff, 41 Civil Servants, 10 Public Servants) have expressed an interest through the Central Application Facility (CAF) process in transferring to Thomastown.
In advance of decentralising to Thomastown, in August 2006 the Authority established an interim office in Kilkenny city. Fifteen staff, including staff recruited for the REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) strategy, have recently relocated to that office in advance of moving to Thomastown. In addition, future staff, who will be recruited for the REACH strategy, will also be based in Thomastown. All staff that move in the interim to the Kilkenny office will transfer to Thomastown when the premises there are completed.
The Authority currently has approximately 110 specialist staff. 7 have applied to CAF to decentralise to Thomastown in addition to all newly recruited Dublin based Inspectors, including those recruited for REACH, referred to above, who are ultimately contracted to move to Thomastown.
The Authority has been advised by OPW that as the site procurement is in the final stages, the current timeline for availability for occupancy is late 2008.
