The OPW, charged with delivering buildings for the Government's decentralisation programme, has raised questions about whether it should be included in the first wave of Departments to move.
In its Decentralisation Implementation Report, the OPW suggests it should be the last to move given that it will deliver its own decentralisation and organise the relocation of other Departments.
The programme for decentralisation will be addressed in the next report of the decentralisation implementation group to be presented to the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Decentralisation this autumn.
According to a Department of Finance spokesperson, the course of decentralisation will be based on figures obtained from the Central Application Facility (primarily a Web-based application system operated by the Civil Service Commission), property issues and business aspects raised in each Department's decentralisation implementation report.
The OPW has already secured five properties for Government Departments and agencies and 17 others will be finalised by the end of the year.
The OPW will disperse to three locations: Trim, Co Meath - 275 staff; Claremorris, Co Mayo - 150 staff; and Kanturk, Co Cork - 100 staff. The OPW is understood to have already identified three greenfield sites in Claremorris.
In common with most Department reports, the OPW has pointed to several possible risks associated with decentralisation: substantial loss of staff resulting in loss of expertise and "institutional knowledge"; diminishing employee morale; time constraints on recruiting and training replacement staff, and the risk of a decline in the high standard of service provided by the organisation.