MacGill Summer School: The Government has agreed in principle to acquire sites in a number of regional centres as part of its decentralisation programme, the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Tom Parlon, announced at the MacGill summer school in Glenties, Co Donegal, last night.
He said that sites were being acquired in Athlone, the Curragh, Longford, Furbo, Carlow and Trim. Mr Parlon rejected the claim by some critics that government could not operate under decentralisation. "There has never been a more suitable time. The civil service is in a better position than ever to tackle the challenges associated with this decentralisation programme."
He said early results showed that about 2,600 civil servants working in Dublin were interested in moving to the new decentralised locations or to existing provincial offices. In addition, 2,200 civil servants working outside Dublin wanted to move to the decentralised locations.
"The critics say people do not want to go. In my view the level of response at this early stage in the implementation process is a clear indication that many people do want to avail of the opportunity to move under this decentralisation programme. It is very important that people acknowledge that this is a three-year programme. It is very unlikely that many moves will take place during the early years because of the need to acquire sites and procure suitable buildings."
Mr Parlon acknowledged that the initial response was disappointing. However, it was not surprising given that trade unions had actively advised their members not to co-operate, which was their right. Mr Parlon repeated that all transfers were voluntary.
The general secretary of the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants (AHCPS), Mr Seán Ó Riordáin, warned that over 90 per cent of new civil service staff would have to be found if the Government's decentralisation target was to be met.
He said his association had consistently said it did not expect more than 20 per cent of staff in organisations to move with their jobs down the country. "In fact, only 6 per cent overall in civil service and State agencies, and 7.5 per cent, 471 out of 6,277 in the civil service, are prepared to move. Indeed, these figures need to be qualified: they may not be in the grades needed and they may not be doing the actual work due to be relocated.
"On average, therefore, if this programme were to be completed by 2007, it would be necessary to transfer out over 92.5 per cent of staff in 42 civil service organisations and find over 92.5 per cent of new staff somewhere else, if they were available to transfer in, train and move down the country. The mind boggles."
Mr Ó Riordáin said there were also individual offices and agencies where, by virtue of the location of the principal client group, the logic of relocation was at issue.
"For example, the core client groups of the Equality Tribunal and the Equality Agency are Dublin-based and the logic of everybody trooping down to Portarlington and Roscrea to the agencies just does not make sense. The prison service at present is located in Clondalkin close to Wheatfield and Clover Hill prisons; Mountjoy is just down the road and the Midland prison and Portlaoise are readily accessible. Our members are asking what the business case is for moving the prison service to Longford, where the only adjacent prison is Castlerea.
"They are asking what the business case is for moving the development aid section of the Department of Foreign Affairs (Development Co-Operation Ireland) to Limerick: Their principal client groups are the embassies and non-governmental organisations in Dublin, and we understand that Dóchas, the umbrella organisation for the NGOs, moved recently to Harcourt Street to be near Foreign Affairs."
Senator Brian Hayes (Fine Gael) described the Government's decentralisation programme as "an example of how not to go about constructing public policy".
Mr Hayes said the policy was dreamt up as the Government realised that the public had moved against it and something positive had to be found in advance of the local and European elections. "The announcement had everything to do with electoral concerns and had very little to do with the need for balanced regional development."
Fintan O'Toole on decentralisation: page 14