Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy is aware, the Minister for Finance announced in his budget speech in December 2003 that a total of eight Departments would move their headquarters from Dublin to provincial locations. As part of this programme, all my Department's Dublin-based Civil Service staff are relocating to Newbridge and the Defence Forces headquarters will relocate to the Curragh. In coming to its decision on decentralisation, the Government took account of a wide range of factors in selecting suitable locations and Departments and agencies.

Immediately following the announcement of the programme, a decentralisation implementation group was appointed to prepare an overall implementation plan in consultation with all the organisations involved, including my Department. My Department has produced implementation plans for the group, setting out the detailed arrangements that will be put in place for relocation, such as risk assessment and mitigation strategies, service and business continuity, and business processes and systems. These plans are being progressed in preparation for the move. The relocation of my Department to Newbridge and of the Defence Forces headquarters to the Curragh will take place in 2009.

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