Dublin could lose the defining characteristics of a capital city if the Government's decentralisation programme goes ahead as planned, according to a report published yesterday.
It also claimed the programme would cost a "high multiple" of the initial €20 million set aside in the budget, and could have a detrimental effect on the workings of government.
The report was presented to the special delegate conference in Dublin yesterday of the AHCPS, the union representing senior civil and public servants.
It was prepared by the union's executive committee with the assistance of economic consultant Mr Brian Barry.
The delivery of "joined-up government", the report said, relied on extensive inter-departmental networking. The need for continuous contact between civil servants in different Departments had been recognised in public administration over many centuries.
"In this country it has, since the foundation of the State, been secured by the fact that all Departments have been headquartered virtually within walking distance of one another, in Dublin, the nation's capital, and the seat of its parliament."
Departure from this pattern was not a step to be taken lightly, the report said. "It may well be the case - though experience elsewhere suggests otherwise - that dispersal of Departments to locations outside Dublin, and away from one another, can be made work without compromising the practicalities of joined-up government.
"But in the absence of specific, detailed and credible proposals as to how this is to be achieved, the association and its members consider they have every reason to be concerned."
The report expressed doubt that video conferencing could resolve the problems created by geographic dispersal.
"Leaving aside the enormous cost of creating the required network across a large number of different office locations spread over every county in the State, the experience of the business sector is that video conferencing is complementary to, but far from a substitute for, face-to-face interaction."
The potential costs of decentralisation in a range of areas are detailed in the report, including acquisition of properties, fitting them out, duplication of resources and increased travel expenditure. It seemed likely that the capital expenditure and other one-off costs associated with the programme would be a high multiple of the initial allocation of €20 million, it said.
It should also be recognised, said the report, that decentralisation would affect far more than the 10,300 staff the Government was planning to move.
"These civil and public servants have spouses, partners, children and other family dependants. All these people have their own existing commitments, lifestyles and social relationships."
The programme could affect up to 50,000 people, the report estimated, and this did not include those remaining in Dublin but who would have to be re-assigned to new posts.
The announcement of the programme, "without prior consultation and without addressing - much less resolving - the people issues involved, is without precedent, is utterly insensitive and has already created uncertainties which are generating widespread anxiety and stress".
AHCPS REPORT: MAIN POINTS
• The decentralisation programme as planned threatens the delivery of "joined-up government"
• It will cost a "high multiple" of the €20 million initial allocation, announced in the budget
• Only about 40 per cent of public servants are currently based within the Dublin area
• Up to 50,000 people, including family members, would be affected by the plan to relocate 10,300 staff
• There would be potential "down sides" for the 53 proposed host locations, such as rising house prices
• An opportunity to kick-start the National Spatial Strategy has been lost
• There would be a significant rise in travel and subsistence costs and a loss of productive "desk time"
• There are specific difficulties with several proposed moves, such as that of the Prison Service to a location (Longford) further away than it is now (Clondalkin) to all but one of the State's prisons
