Minister for Finance Brian Cowen will today reiterate the Government's commitment to its decentralisation programme in his response to the Labour Court decision preventing State agencies from linking promotions to an applicant's willingness to move out of Dublin.
The issue was discussed at yesterday's Cabinet meeting and officials from the Department of Finance and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment were yesterday drafting a response.
Fine Gael has called on the Government to clarify whether the decentralisation programme in the State agency sector was still viable. The party has pointed out that the deadline for the completion of the programme had passed but not one person in a semi-State body had moved.
The Labour Court ruled earlier this week that the State training and education agency Fás could not make promotions conditional on staff being prepared to relocate to its new headquarters in Birr, Co Offaly. The court said that staff applying for promotion had the right to be judged on suitability and merit alone.
Siptu, which took the case on behalf of members in Fás, said the Government should rethink its plans to include State agencies in the decentralisation programme.
It said that only six of its 383 members in Fás had opted to move to Birr and that none of its 178 members in Fáilte Ireland had agreed to move to Mallow, Co Cork. None of its 98 members in Bord Iascaigh Mhara had opted to move to Clonakilty, Co Cork.