Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Does the Minister have an economic or financial assessment of the cost of so many significant sections or semi-State bodies with specific expertise refusing to move, given the Taoiseach's guarantee that decentralisation is voluntary and that people may stay in Dublin? Unless a review takes place, are we not heading for a repeat of the Cahirciveen situation regarding the Legal Aid Board where essentially there is a headquarters in Dublin and another in Cahirciveen? Interestingly, in the recent decentralisation moves, all the staff in Cahirciveen asked to be transferred to Killarney as part of their response to decentralisation. Will the Minister cost the impact of that in terms of the loss of effectiveness in the public service? In the case of development co-operation, as the Minister is aware people have to agree to transfer every three to five years to an overseas posting for up to four years on average, yet we are asking families in that situation to be trilocated, so to speak, to Dublin, Limerick and overseas.

See this speech in context