Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)

If I am reading the Minister of State's figures properly the situation appears to have worsened since his last answer in June. He said then that 21 applications had been made from within the directorate to the Central Applications Facility, which indicated that about 17% of the staff had taken up the offer of decentralisation, which is a minuscule level. Now he says there are 26, but six of those are coming from somewhere else within the Department, which makes the situation even worse.

Is the Minister of State aware that the Ireland Aid review committee in its 2002 report said that the loss of key staff within the directorate would affect seriously the efficiency of the aid programme? Has he carried out any risk assessment as regards the erosion of key staff within the directorate? If so, what were the findings of that assessment? Will he say how many sites are being looked for the decentralisation programme and what is the projected cost of site acquisition?

My key question, however, is concerned with risk assessment. How many of the 15 principal officer and senior specialists are in favour of moving?

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