Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Question 1: To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the implementation of the decentralisation programme as it affects his Department. [15217/05]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 2: To ask the Taoiseach the number of staff within his Department who have applied for transfer to locations outside of Dublin under the Government's decentralisation programme; the impact, if any, this will have on his Department; if there are plans to decentralise any part of his Department or any agency under the aegis of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16047/05]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 3: To ask the Taoiseach the number of staff in his Department who have applied for relocation under the Government's decentralisation programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16997/05]

Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Question 4: To ask the Taoiseach the way in which the decentralisation programme affects his Department or any agency under the aegis of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18320/05]

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive, together.

There are no proposals to decentralise any section of my Department or any of the bodies or agencies operating under its aegis. A significant part of the Central Statistics Office is located in Cork. A total of 42 staff from my Department have applied through the central applications facility to relocate under the decentralisation programme. The breakdown by grade is assistant principal, six; administrative officer, nine; higher executive officer, four; executive officer, 11; staff officer, three; and clerical officer, nine.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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What percentage of the Taoiseach's staff does that number comprise? How does it compare with other Departments? It is a high take up, given that the Taoiseach does not have a huge number of staff, apart from all the advisers and media professionals at his elbow. Have the staff been transferred? If not, when will the transfers be effected?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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It is a fair number of staff. My Department is not large, employing approximately 232 staff, and 42 represents a significant proportion of the overall number. I do not have the figures for other Departments but some people are opting to leave Dublin while others, who are in the regions, are opting for other regional locations. More than 8,500 expressions of interest were received but many of those were from people in the regions seeking to move to other regional locations. The number of applicants in my Department under the programme is high and the number of applicants has increased in most Departments with the passage of time.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Have many been transferred?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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Nobody has been transferred.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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It is well over a year since decentralisation was suddenly sprung on us during the Budget Statement as an election ploy. However, it is taking a long time.

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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The question refers to the Taoiseach's Department.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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When will the desire of the 42 staff in the Taoiseach's Department to be transferred be effected?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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The staff would like to move as soon as possible but, while it is 17 months since the announcement, three separate reports have been conducted and a fourth is due. The sites on the early list have been located and the staff involved will want to move. Some of my staff move whenever vacancies arise in existing locations but few arise each year. However, every year a small number of staff is transferred. Last week a number of Departments announced the locations of their offices and the location of other sites is in train in several parts of the country.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Will the staff be replaced in the Department of the Taoiseach or will staff be transferred from other areas of the Civil Service? Has a new chairman of the implementation committee been appointed? If so, who? To whom will he or she report? For example, will he or she report to a cross-departmental committee or a Minister? What reporting arrangements apply to the implementation committee?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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All the staff must be replaced by civil servants of a similar grade from other Departments who do not wish to decentralise. Mr. Finbarr Flood has taken over the chair of the decentralisation implementation group and reports to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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What mix of grades comprises the 42 people? Are people with skills particular to the Department of the Taoiseach being lost? Professional grades are experiencing difficulties, being told to either move "or else". I do not know how people with such technical or professional skills can be accommodated elsewhere in the Civil Service.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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The mix is composed of six assistant principal officers, nine administrative officers, four higher executive officers, 11 executive officers, three staff officers and nine clerical officers. I accept the point about the professional grades. While it is not relevant to my Department in this instance, it was when the Central Statistics Office was decentralised to Cork in June 1991. Some considerable time was spent on this issue while I was the Minister for Finance due to the professional and senior people who were relocating and I am sure this will happen again. The difficult issues must be resolved in discussion and consultation with the relevant trade unions of the elements of the professional and technical streams that wish to remain in Dublin, which is primarily IMPACT in this situation.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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How many of the staff moving from the Department of the Taoiseach have been offered promotion? Have any departmental staff declined to move due to family, school or social contacts? In general, pressure is apparently being applied to public servants. If they move from a Department, they may achieve promotion but if they do not move, they are stuck.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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The situation in my Department is somewhat simpler as no section of its work is to be decentralised. No one is under pressure to leave and any who leave wish to do so. It is obviously different in other Departments. The issues relating to volunteers are being dealt with as part of the implementation process. They must be discussed and agreed with the public service unions. Possible options include redeployment to other Departments or voluntarily filling vacancies in any Dublin-based non-commercial State organisation that would otherwise be filled by open recruitment. In the case of staff who do not wish to join the Civil Service or decentralise with their current agencies, civil servants who volunteer for decentralisation could be considered to fill the vacant roles. There is a mix of ideas and options, for which the central applications facility is allowing. It has not been difficult for anyone in my Department who has left to be promoted.

Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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I listened carefully and with interest to what the Taoiseach had to say. When he mentioned that 42 staff from his Department are offering to decentralise, is this a reduction in numbers on the reply he gave the House in February when I noted the number of staff as 45? That amounts to approximately 20% of his Department. Does the Taoiseach expect an increase or further decrease in this number? In his Department's monthly report to the Cabinet on its own decentralisation process, has the timetable for implementation changed in light of the Taoiseach's experiences?

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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That does not arise in this context.

Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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I am referring to the Taoiseach's experience in his Department. I understand that the Ceann Comhairle is strict in these matters so I am endeavouring not to stray from the salient point, even though it is tempting to do so. I ask about the Taoiseach's own Department and the implementation group under Mr. Finbarr Flood. Does the Taoiseach deem the costs to his Department to include reimbursements to staff for relocating? A precedent may have been set in the case of Teagasc staff who moved to Carlow and were given a €15,000 commuting payment. Does the Taoiseach consider that a payment such as that would apply to his staff or would it become part of the €90 million total cost of decentralisation?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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There is no payment system in place and any questions arising on that issue will be discussed with the trade unions. There is no scheme at present and I do not envisage one being set up. I do not have the figure for transfer applications for February, but if Deputy Sargent maintains that it is 45, the explanation is that there are always a number of people in any Department who are moving anyway. They are on lists for relocation or decentralisation. I know of an individual in my Department, for example, who has just moved to Cork.

In terms of final numbers, the central applications facility list is still open and people in various Departments are moving on and off that list all the time. It would not remain the same. People change their minds.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Is there a Cabinet sub-committee dealing with decentralisation? If there is no such sub-committee, would the Taoiseach consider putting one in place, given the complexities of what is proposed within his Department and in all other Departments, especially in the context of the crossover between Departments whereby people will seek relocation and, therefore, transfer between Departments. Is there an individual in the Taoiseach's Department charged with liaising with other Departments regarding the overall decentralisation project? If there is no Cabinet sub-committee dealing with this issue, can the Taoiseach indicate how the overall programme is being co-ordinated?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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At the outset there was a Cabinet sub-committee dealing with the issues, composed mainly of personnel from the Department of Finance and the Office of Public Works as well as a number of other relevant Departments. Since the decentralisation implementation group was set up under the chairmanship of Mr. Finbarr Flood, it has been co-ordinating the project and dealing with various Ministers. Property acquisitions and related issues are being dealt with by the Office of Public Works. Staffing issues are being dealt with by the personnel management, PSMD, section of the Department of Finance, while a separate group is dealing with the senior officials who are moving. The Secretary General of my Department is involved with that senior personnel group. They are the main elements that are driving and co-ordinating the decentralisation project.

The implementation group publishes progress reports periodically. There were three such reports last year and another one is due this summer.