Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

It would be wrong of me to pretend that this is an easy process or that it is painless for the staff involved. The Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism is finding it fairly traumatic to move such a large number of people and to implement the changes which are associated with that in terms of policy personnel. The Government is committed to its decentralisation policy — everybody is doing their best to make it a success — and it will settle down in due course. I appreciate that the transition period is not an easy one for many people. Those who have been based in Dublin for a long time are finding it particularly difficult. Over 80 staff in the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, which has been designated as one of the "early movers", are now based in Killarney. We intend to move all our staff down there, including our senior policy people.

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