Just one extra Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI) worker in the last 15 months has applied to move to Dungarvan under the Government's decentralisation plan, while 54 new staff have been recruited on the basis that they will transfer out of Dublin, according to officially released figures.
The Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, told Waterford Labour TD, Brian O'Shea, in November that 16 OSI workers had now sought a move out of Dublin - an increase of just one on the figure given in September 2005, though 45 staff from other departments and agencies had applied to join it.
OSI is one of a number of State agencies heavily reliant on expert, hard-to-replace specialists, though the same problem is occurring with Department of Agriculture computer staff who do not want to go to Portlaoise and Department of Finance IT staff who are objecting to working out of Kildare offices.
Meanwhile, 250 assistant principal officers throughout the Civil Service, each paid between €67,000 and €75,000, will find themselves in exactly the same position, while 650 technical staff who want to remain in the capital will equally have nothing to do.
For example, 640 assistant principal-rank posts, including information technology expert posts, are scheduled to be transferred out of Dublin. Just 380 Dublin-based officers of that rank have applied to go, while 140 more applications have come from officers of that rank already stationed outside of Dublin.
The Government, therefore, is faced with two issues. Firstly, it may have to promote civil servants to get them to leave Dublin - as already happened when part of the Industrial Development Authority moved to Waterford - while also having to create new work for those left behind.
The Department of Foreign Affairs's Irish Aid division, which will shortly be in charge of a €1 billion-a-year budget, is currently undergoing a major changeover in personnel as it prepares for its move to Limerick, which is strongly opposed by staff and which has raised fears about the State's ability to get value-for-money for overseas aid.
In late 2007 124 officials are due to move , though just 48 civil servants have applied to move - and just 12 of these were working on overseas development aid before the Government's decentralisation decision was taken.
Seventeen more Foreign Affairs staff, currently serving abroad, will move to Limerick on their return to Ireland, while 21 civil servants already based outside of Dublin have applied to join the rapidly-growing development division.
Seven development experts, represented by the Impact trade union, who had applied to move have since withdrawn their applications in a row over pay and conditions, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern acknowledged.
Talks are still under way between Impact and the Department of Finance to resolve the dispute, though any agreement could have significant knock-on effects for the rest of the Government's decentralisation programme.
