Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 4: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his plans for the decentralisation of Development Cooperation Ireland; his views on the potential for disruption and loss of staff arising from these plans; his further views on the way in which decentralisation may impact upon the coordination or effectiveness of overseas development aid spending; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27216/05]

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Government's decentralisation programme, announced in December 2003, the development co-operation directorate of the Department of Foreign Affairs, currently based in Dublin, is scheduled to decentralise to Limerick. This will involve the relocation to Limerick of 123 posts and is scheduled to take place during the first quarter of 2007. The Office of Public Works is currently assessing a number of accommodation proposals in Limerick.

A detailed implementation plan was completed by my officials in March of this year and submitted to the Flood committee for its consideration. The plan addresses a wide variety of issues, including human resource considerations, training and development, business issues, risk management and accommodation needs. The plan, together with regular updates, can be accessed on the Department's website.

Already, a total of 26 posts in the directorate are filled by staff who have expressed an interest in decentralising to Limerick, including seven officers recruited from other Departments via the central applications facility and five staff recruited from interdepartmental promotion panels. The process of transferring to the directorate staff currently serving elsewhere in the Department and of recruiting staff via the central applications facility will be accelerated in the new year. The aim is that by the second half of 2006 most posts in the directorate will be filled by staff who will decentralise to Limerick.

The Government is aware that the decentralisation process will take place during a period of significant growth in the overseas development aid budget and the strategies outlined in the implementation plan are designed to minimise these risks. The following are among the steps being taken. To ensure continuity and to minimise disruption, Department officials are currently involved in detailed planning on strategies for retaining corporate memory and ensuring there is adequate training and induction for new staff. To guard against a very rapid turnover of staff in the months immediately preceding decentralisation to Limerick, Development Co-operation Ireland has already started the process of bringing staff in from other Departments who have applied for decentralisation with Development Co-operation Ireland.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

Development Co-operation Ireland's work involves liaising with other sections of the Department of Foreign Affairs, other Departments, NGOs such as Concern, Trócaire and GOAL and a wide range of international organisations. In order to ensure this important networking continues, a liaison office will remain in Dublin following decentralisation. In addition, the Department will invest in video-conferencing facilities. Development Co-operation Ireland is consulting other Departments who have experienced decentralisation, for example, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners in Limerick and the UK Department for International Development which relocated some of its operations from London to Glasgow in the early 1980s.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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If I am reading the Minister of State's figures properly the situation appears to have worsened since his last answer in June. He said then that 21 applications had been made from within the directorate to the Central Applications Facility, which indicated that about 17% of the staff had taken up the offer of decentralisation, which is a minuscule level. Now he says there are 26, but six of those are coming from somewhere else within the Department, which makes the situation even worse.

Is the Minister of State aware that the Ireland Aid review committee in its 2002 report said that the loss of key staff within the directorate would affect seriously the efficiency of the aid programme? Has he carried out any risk assessment as regards the erosion of key staff within the directorate? If so, what were the findings of that assessment? Will he say how many sites are being looked for the decentralisation programme and what is the projected cost of site acquisition?

My key question, however, is concerned with risk assessment. How many of the 15 principal officer and senior specialists are in favour of moving?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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To take the last part of the Deputy's question first, I do not get myself involved directly in the identification of a location or site for this particular office. Clearly that is a matter for the Office of Public Works. The Department is very happy to allow the OPW to continue to handle that aspect. It has identified a number of sites. I cannot shed any light for the Deputy on the value of the Limerick site——

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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So the Minister of State does not know where he is going.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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——or what will be spent.

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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It is not like the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Our Department does not pick sites.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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What about principal officers and senior officials?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I want to be fully transparent with the Deputy on this matter. My officials have been to Limerick and have looked at a number of different sites identified by the OPW.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Were they from within the directorate?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The desire is that whatever accommodation the division concerned decentralises to in Limerick is of a reasonable standard and can accommodate the many different people who want to be there. The Deputy issued a statement earlier today, and this is fully understandable, deriving the figure of 17%. In fact 33% of the required level of staffing that we need——

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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It is not a political lie.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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——is the actual percentage. It is not the Deputy's fault because he read that directly from the CAF. The CAF would not include——

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I read it from the Minister of State's reply on 2 June.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Deputy to bear with me. The Central Applications Facility would not reflect the numbers of staff to move within DCI from overseas, or indeed people who did not come through the CAF and came into the Department on promotion. Indeed, in the last few months five people have come into the Department on promotion and indicated a strong willingness to decentralise to Limerick. Of the senior development specialists he referred to, none of the current three officials has indicated a desire to relocate to Limerick.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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What about the principal officers and specialists?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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In terms of the overall situation on specialists, a great number of them are willing to travel to Limerick. I understand the figure is in the region of 11 or more among the development specialists who have indicated a willingness to go to Limerick.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Out of how many?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The figure is 11 out of 24 development specialists. Obviously there is a shortage of numbers as regards senior development specialists.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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The House must move on to Question No. 5.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I ask the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, to give way as I have another question to ask.

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I was called, to be fair, by the Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Is any risk assessment being carried out as regards the move?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Not only is there a risk assessment, but a number of measures have been put in place to avoid the losses the Deputy spoke about as regards corporate memory. We have installed a very strong system which provides for a one-month hand-over period, with new staff coming in. That is not the norm in the rest of the public sector——

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Will the Minister of State make the risk assessment available?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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——when positions are being replaced. A number of risk assessments have been done on this. As a result of those a number of specific measures have been put in place to ensure that such damage does not occur.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Will the risk assessment be made available?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The data are available on the website, so there is no problem.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I am asking a simple question. Will the Minister of State make the risk assessment available?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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If the Deputy wishes to see the data I will try to ensure that he gets them.

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I am afraid to get up. The last time I was called I was accused of interrupting.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister was interrupting.

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I was called by the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and I rose when he called the next question.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I had not got my answers.