Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

Under the Government's decentralisation programme, announced in December 2003, the development cooperation directorate of the Department of Foreign Affairs, based in Dublin, is scheduled to decentralise to Limerick. This will involve the relocation to Limerick of 123 posts and is scheduled to take place during the first quarter of 2007. There are 42 people working within the Department with a stated intention of decentralising to Limerick, which is 34% of the total requirement.

The Office of Public Works is assessing a possible site in Limerick. The success of decentralisation depends on the early availability of a suitable building from the OPW. My officials completed a detailed implementation plan in March of this year and submitted it to the decentralisation implementation committee for its consideration. The plan addresses a variety of issues, including human resource considerations, training and development, business issues, risk management and accommodation needs. The plan, together with regular updates, can be accessed on the Department's website.

Already, a total of 26 posts in the directorate are filled by staff who have expressed an interest in decentralising to Limerick, including seven officers recruited from other Departments via the central applications facility and five staff recruited from interdepartmental promotion panels. There are a further 16 staff elsewhere in the Department, including abroad, who have also expressed the intention of decentralising to Limerick. The process of transferring to the directorate staff serving elsewhere in the Department and of recruiting staff via the central applications facility will be accelerated in the new year. The aim is that by the second half of 2006 most posts in the directorate will be filled by staff who will decentralise to Limerick.

There are a total of 24 specialists based in the directorate headquarters and 11 applications have been received to date for these positions through the central applications facility. I hope more will volunteer as we approach the decentralisation deadline.

The Government is aware that the decentralisation process will take place during a period of significant growth in the overseas development aid budget and the strategies outlined in the implementation plan are designed to minimise these risks. Among the steps being taken are the following: to ensure continuity and to minimise disruption, Department officials are involved in detailed planning on strategies for retaining corporate memory and ensuring that there is adequate training and induction for new staff.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

To guard against a rapid turnover of staff in the months immediately preceding decentralisation to Limerick, the directorate has already started the process of bringing staff in from other Departments who have applied for decentralisation with Development Cooperation Ireland. The directorate's work involves liaising with other sections of the Department of Foreign Affairs, other Departments, NGOs such as Concern, Trócaire and Goal, and a wide range of international organisations. To help ensure continuing coherence, the Department, inter alia, will invest in and make considerable use of video-conferencing facilities.

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