The Government will have to create over 6.000 new State jobs in Dublin for civil servants and semi-state employees who have refused to apply to transfer to new offices outside of the capital, it has emerged.
Under decentralisation, 10,000 civil and public servants were to move out of Dublin by the end of 2006 to 54 locations - though the slow pace of progress means only 1,000 will have moved to approximately six locations by the time the deadline expires.
Once it is completed, however, it now emerges that 3,500 civil servants and 2,600 semi-state employees will be surplus to current staffing needs because though their jobs will have transferred, they will have remained.
Following the changes, there will be 2,737 clerical officer grade jobs in Dublin-based Civil Service offices, though over 3,800 have made it clear that they want to stay, while 2.000 higher executive officers will be available to fill 1,340 jobs.
The reality that 6,000 posts that currently do not exist will have to be found has not been questioned by Department of Finance management in negotiations with trades unions over the last number of months, union sources told The Irish Times yesterday.
Over 1,150 executive officer grade jobs will remain in Dublin if the decentralisation plan is fully completely, but there are nearly 2,000 such civil servants who do not want to move, while there will be 630 too many higher executive officers, 143 staff officers, 315 assistant principal officers and 171 principal officers for the jobs available.
The situation is not any better in the semi-states affected by the move, where 2,164 staff will have to be found other work because their positions have been transferred to other places and they have not chosen to go with it.
Meanwhile, an internal Department of Social and Family Affairs memorandum reveals the plans to fully move to Carrick-on-Shannon by the end of 2006 cannot be met.
"The Department of Finance have now advised the Department that suitable accommodation has been secured in Carrick-on-Shannon, which is likely to be available to the Department at the end of 2006," said the memo, seen by The Irish Times.
However, the new office will not be big enough: "The accommodation will not be sufficient to take all 220 posts announced for Carrick-on-Shannon initially.
"Therefore, decentralisation to Carrick-on-Shannon will be done in two phases. At this time we have no indication as to when the second phase will happen," said the memo.
Defending the progress being made, the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Tom Parlon, said 1,000 staff would be transferred by the end of 2006. The pace would quicken in the first quarter of 2007 when five office blocks would become available in Portlaoise, Limerick, Drogheda, Newcastlewest, Loughrea and Longford. Fine Gael TD Richard Bruton said the introduction of the decentralisation programme "flew in the face of all established procedures for ensuring sound decision-making".
