Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I am not doing any disservice to that union but I think the situation is clear. There are 123 staff to be moved to Limerick. Some 114 people have applied in the first round to be part of that move. Therefore, we have received 114 applications to go to Limerick. Some 35 of those are from within the Department of Foreign Affairs and 19 of those 35 are from the development co-operation division that I supervise.

The Deputy may be confused about the specialists. We have 23 development specialists based in the development co-operation division's headquarters here in Dublin. Some 11 of those 23 have volunteered to go to Limerick. I understand the Deputy's motivation in raising this issue. It is a matter of concern that this move to Limerick should not disrupt or put in jeopardy our well developed overseas development assistance programme. I am glad to inform the House that the current director general, who was previously our ambassador in Vienna, was brought back just prior to my taking office last September. He was brought back deliberately so that we could have a smooth transition to Limerick. That man, the most senior official in the Department, has volunteered to go to Limerick. That is one of the reasons he was brought back. In the past week we have had two additional, extra counsellor-rank people coming into the section to boost and assist in the transition.

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