Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 May 2018
7. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if the decentralisation of other Departments, sections or Government agencies to counties Laois and Offaly has been considered. [21626/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra34. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to relocate new Departments or Government agencies, or both, to counties Laois and Offaly in view of the infrastructural strain on the capital city and the lack of employment opportunities in the counties. [21627/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy question relates to any plans the Government may have to decentralise agencies or any other sections of or entire Departments to Laois or Offaly. The two counties are centrally located and are haemorrhaging jobs. Huge numbers are commuting to Dublin from both counties daily. In Laois alone, 11,500 of a very modest workforce commute from the county, which is ideally located. I am keen to hear if the Minister has any plans.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 34 together.
As the Deputy will be aware, the decentralisation programme announced in December 2003 involved the potential relocation of more than 10,000 civil and public service jobs to 53 locations in 25 counties. It was a Government decision in 2011 that the programme be cancelled in light of the budgetary and staffing outlook at that time. Up to that date, about a third of the target numbers, more than 3,400 posts, were decentralised. The proportion of civil servants working outside Dublin is now just over 50%. There are no plans at the present time to introduce a further programme of decentralisation.
I thank the Minister for his reply, which is disappointing. The 2003 plans were somewhat chaotic and in the style of something written on the back of a cigarette box to put it mildly.
The Deputy would be glad of it now.
Nevertheless, Laois and Offaly have benefited from them.
That is right, they have.
The plans were chaotic during their first years. For example, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine was in seven different locations in Portlaoise, although it is now in fewer places. There is no doubt that there was chaos for some years and that it was not planned properly. I do not want, however, the Government to use that as an excuse not to decentralise other parts of the public service. In Offaly, there is part of the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Finance. Laois has the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. IDA Ireland jobs have been slow to come to Laois and Offaly. Only four jobs were created by IDA Ireland in Laois last year, but there is an opportunity in this area. We are told that IDA Ireland cannot get companies to move beyond the M50 and that it is difficult to get them into the midlands. Dublin cannot cope with the rapid growth it is undergoing. This is an opportunity to examine this issue and look to sections of other Departments that could be decentralised.
Last week, we saw IDA Ireland's success in delivering major job announcements in areas and cities outside Dublin. There was an announcement regarding Longford and regarding Cavan prior to that. IDA Ireland is very much committed to trying to increase employment and attract foreign direct investment to areas throughout the country, particularly in such areas as financial services and the kinds of jobs announced in Longford and Cavan.
My focus on decentralisation is on growing employment in offices which are decentralised. Any further decisions to be made will be in the context of Ireland 2040, where we integrate decisions into a proper planning framework for the country. At this time, I have no plans to decentralise any further offices from Dublin.
We must hope that the new national plan to which the Minister referred is better implemented than its predecessor. The capital is under huge pressure in areas such as water, housing and transport. Housing is beyond the reach of most low and middle-income civil servants. There are opportunities to relocate. Even if the Minister will not relocate additional Departments, there are further opportunities within the Departments which have been decentralised and which have been welcomed and embraced by people in the midlands, especially in Laois and Offaly.
For example, someone ought to look at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. While it may not relate strictly to decentralisation, every little thing in planning must be rubber-stamped in the Custom House, even for applications regarding the porches of houses or the kinds of covers that may be put over the tops of house windows. Some of that work needs to be decentralised to local government. That is one area in which we could move civil servants out of central government and back into city halls.
We have made a lot of progress in allowing local authorities to take a lead in providing shared services to the entire country. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan has pointed to the progress which has been made in the local authorities in Limerick which play a role in the rental accommodation scheme, RAS. Shared services functions for the country are now run from particular local authorities. Approximately half of all of our civil servants are based in regional locations. While we have made progress in moving existing employment outside Dublin, my focus is on increasing employment in offices which have located in all counties. The wage agreement which is in place over the next three years creates the ability to hire more civil and public servants in offices that we have established.
