Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 58: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of principal development specialists, senior development specialists and development specialists working with Irish Aid who have volunteered to decentralise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19809/06]

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Three categories of specialists — principal development specialists, senior development specialists and development specialists — are employed by Irish Aid. None of the three principal development specialists who serve in Irish Aid's headquarters in Dublin has applied to decentralise to Limerick. None of the 12 senior development specialists who work in Irish Aid's headquarters has applied to decentralise to Limerick. Two senior development specialists originally applied to decentralise to Limerick, but subsequently withdrew their applications. Five of the nine development specialists who work in Irish Aid's headquarters are scheduled to decentralise to Limerick. Four of the five development specialists in question commenced employment since the announcement of the decentralisation programme in December 2003. One of them applied via the central applications facility. Discussions are ongoing with representatives of the specialists, their union IMPACT and the Department of Finance about the issues involved in decentralisation, which have a wider Civil Service dimension. I hope that a greater number of specialists will, in time, volunteer to decentralise to Limerick.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Can the Minister of State tell me how many of the 123 staff of Development Co-operation Ireland have indicated their willingness to decentralise? I ask him to state the number clearly without trying to mask the problems which exist. According to the Minister of State's figures, 28 of the 123 staff had applied to participate in the decentralisation programme by December 2005. That figure had decreased to 24 by January 2006. The Minister of State has now told us that none of the senior development specialists is prepared to go ahead with decentralisation. Some of those who had indicated a willingness to decentralise have now withdrawn their applications.

Does the Minister of State agree that, based on his own figures, he is presiding over a disastrous move for Irish Aid? Does he agree that rather than advancing the process, it is being reversed? It is shambolic and it is putting the effective delivery of the Irish aid programme at grave risk. Will the Minister of State admit that the decision to proceed with decentralisation without consulting staff or taking the intellectual memory of Irish Aid or the implications for the overseas programme into consideration was an appalling one? Will the Minister of State give the House some clearcut figures? How many of the 123 staff of Development Co-operation Ireland, or Irish Aid as it is now known, have indicated their willingness to move?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I do not intend to lose my patience at this point, obviously, as I have to answer the questions I am asked in this House. I have answered the Deputy's question on no less than four occasions, most recently at a Dáil committee when I gave precise figures to him. His repeated questioning belies the attempts which have been made by this House to provide researchers——

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State should not give us that rubbish.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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——for Dáil Deputies, including Front Bench spokespersons. It seems Deputy Allen cannot simply collate the figures I gave him last week.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State should give us the figures.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Perhaps he has some difficulty——

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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He is trying to brazen out this disaster.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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——or terrible problem of memory.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I have no problem at all.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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It is clear that he cannot remember the figures I gave him last week.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I want the figures to be put on the record of this House.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy referred to the protection of corporate memory, but I suggest that he should try to find a way of protecting his own memory. I gave him these figures last week at a committee meeting.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Will the Leas-Cheann Comhairle ask the Minister of State not to personalise his response?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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It is clear the Deputy does not do his research or take any note of the responses he gets.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State should give us the figures we are looking for. He should stop blackguarding this House with a load of rubbish.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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He has made some totally groundless assertions in this House about the nature of the decentralisation programme.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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How many of the 123 staff of Irish Aid——

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I will give the Deputy the figures yet again, not so much for his benefit——

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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How many?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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——as I have already given him this information, but for the benefit of other Deputies who may not have asked the question or been given an answer.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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How many?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Allen was given these figures last week.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State should give us the figures for the record of the House.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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It is a most vexatious strategy on the Deputy's part and on the part of Fine Gael. The Deputy was given these figures last week but he has forgotten them again. It does not give me great hope for the kind of Government that Fine Gael is trying to form with the Labour Party that Deputies are forgetting the figures they were given a week ago.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State should not give us that rubbish.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I will give the figures again. Deputy Allen referred to Development Co-operation Ireland——

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I referred to Irish Aid.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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——but I remind him that it no longer exists. It is called Irish Aid, but the Deputy referred to Development Co-operation Ireland.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I referred to Irish Aid.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Perhaps his memory is failing him in that respect as well.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State should not be acting the——

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I have given the figures today and I will give them again now because the Deputy did not hear me last week or on the two previous occasions. Some 35 people within the development co-operation division, or Irish Aid as it is now called, have opted to go to Limerick.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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That is less than 25%.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Some 35 people are willing to move.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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That is approximately 25%.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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A further 16 people have opted to apply for positions in Limerick.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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On a point of order, this question was not originally deemed to be a Priority Question.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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That is not a point of order.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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It was deemed to be a Priority Question when the Minister for Foreign Affairs refused to answer a question on human trafficking.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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That is not a point of order.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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That is why this question was substituted at a late moment. The Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, refused to answer questions about human trafficking.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is hardly blaming me for Fine Gael's lack of imagination——

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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That is why this question is in there.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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——in coming up with new questions.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State should not give us that old rubbish.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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It is not rubbish.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is trying to brazen out——

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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It is a very truthful assertion.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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——a disastrous programme of decentralisation——

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is so bankrupt as an Opposition spokesman that he cannot come up with a new question.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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——involving Development Co-operation Ireland.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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He is wasting taxpayers' money.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is behaving disgracefully.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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These are very expensive questions to put down on the Order Paper.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I will put down questions when I want to.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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It takes many civil servants to answer them. The Deputy asked the same question last week that he is asking this week.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I want to get answers.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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He is wasting taxpayers' money, which is something he is always accusing the Government of doing. He is a perfect example of it.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government is wasting money.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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He asked the same questions last week and got the same answers.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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What about the purchase of a property for decentralisation?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The same answers were honestly offered by me to the Deputy at a meeting of a Dáil committee. He just wants to waste taxpayers' money by repeating the question all the time.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Just 35 of the 123 workers want to move.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I will repeat the answer in case the Deputy's memory is deficient.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Thirty-five.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Expressions of interest in decentralisation have been submitted by 35 workers in Irish Aid and 16 workers in the wider Department of Foreign Affairs, of which Irish Aid is a fully integrated part.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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All the senior staff have reversed their decisions.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The performance of Irish Aid in the decentralisation process, far from being a failure, is far better than any other Department of State. We have fulfilled 41%——

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Can I ask a supplementary question?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I will repeat the figure for the Deputy because he is either hard of hearing or hard of memory. Some 41% of the staff requirement needed in Limerick has now been fulfilled.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Just 35 workers want to move.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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By any yardstick, Irish Aid is performing far better than other Departments which are choosing to decentralise to other locations. I have given the Deputy an answer. I hope he will not ask the same question again on the next occasion.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Can the Minister of State, whose behaviour has been disgraceful, tell the House——

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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It is Deputy Allen who is wasting taxpayer's money.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I would like to be allowed to ask my supplementary question. Is the Minister of State telling me that the programme of decentralisation has been successful in respect of the development co-operation section, given that its three most senior staff members are not moving? None of the 12 senior development specialists is moving to Limerick. I understand from the Minister of State's figures that none of the development specialists is moving. Is that correct?

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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There will be plenty of opportunities for promotion there.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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How much money has been spent on the decentralisation of the development co-operation unit to date? What property has been purchased or rented? Can the Minister of State provide such details, which he could not offer the last day, because the House deserves to be given them?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is speaking with a forked tongue again. I gave him an answer in this regard in the committee last week.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State gave a very general answer with no detail. Answer the bloody question.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is again showing either a deficiency in his own research capabilities or in his memory.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I have my own research capabilities.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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It is one or the other.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The figures are here to demonstrate the abject failure on the Government's part.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy can tell the House and the taxpayers why——

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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There has been a total failure.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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——he is wasting taxpayers' time, money and effort in this House.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I have explained why this question was submitted.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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He is asking questions which have already been answered.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I make no apologies for it.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy knows the answer.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister refused to answer questions on human trafficking.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy knows the answer already because he was given it last week. Perhaps he left the committee but to my memory, which is not perfect, the Deputy was present throughout the meeting and heard the answers I gave on this matter. I will say again, for the benefit of the Deputy, who is well aware of the answer I gave to Question No. 11 a minute ago, there are 12 senior development specialists in Irish Aid headquarters. None of them has applied to decentralise to Limerick. Three principal development specialists serve in Irish Aid headquarters, none of whom has applied to decentralise to Limerick. In total, there are 44 development specialists within the Department, both at home and abroad——

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I asked the question in respect of people within the Irish Aid organisation.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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A total of 24 were in headquarters. Such people continue to work for Irish Aid when working in Africa.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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That concludes Priority Questions. The House will now move onto the other questions.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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They do not cease to be members of Irish Aid when they travel to Africa.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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This constitutes a complete failure. The Minister of State is a complete failure.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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That is how the Department delivers aid.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is simply trying to waffle.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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Priority Questions have concluded.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Perhaps the Deputy will visit them some day.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is a disgrace.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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Priority Questions have concluded and I am calling for the response to Question No. 60.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is a complete waste of money.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State's programme is a disgrace and a total failure. He is abusing a privilege of this House.