Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

Over 1,000 applications have been received, covering various grades, including principal officers, assistant principal officers, higher executive officers, executive officers, staff officers and clerical officers. There is a good mix of skills across those grades that can be brought to bear whatever the location. The Department has decentralised very successfully in the past. There are more than 5,000 staff throughout the Department, well over half of whom are already decentralised outside Dublin and successfully operating in a range of areas around the country. The best thing to say of any idea is that it has worked in the past. Our decentralisation to the places that I have mentioned, Letterkenny, Sligo, Longford and so on, is working very well, and customers enjoy a good service from those locations.

The Deputy asked about those staff who do not wish to move. As he is aware, the entire decentralisation process is voluntary and the objective is to attract as many people as possible. One of the inherent difficulties, on which I have no accurate figures, is that some people seek to decentralise within decentralisation. For example, the offices that we are opening in Drogheda are headquarters offices and some of our people in Dundalk wish to move down there. When one tries to do something in Castlebar, people in Ballina want to move over. The figures do not always indicate decentralisation from Dublin to the regions, which is generally what we regard as decentralisation. A recentralisation is under way within that and we are trying to deal with that as best we can. In my Department, the system has worked very successfully and we are one of the most decentralised in the State.

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