Tom Parlon (Laois-Offaly, Progressive Democrats)

I am delighted to have the opportunity to address the Seanad this evening on the Government's decentralisation programme. When the Minister for Finance announced the details of the extent of the new decentralisation programme in his budget speech in December last year, several commentators were of the view that it would be many years before progress could be achieved on moving the programme forward. When one sees the extent of the progress that has been made, with the assistance of the decentralisation implementation group, in advancing this important Government programme one will agree, on hearing the facts, that we have delivered fully on our promise to translate our targets into real action in a very short timeframe.

The chairman of the implementation group is Mr. Phil Flynn who reports directly to a special Cabinet sub-committee on decentralisation. The group was asked to prepare an implementation plan and report back to Government by the end of March 2004. In parallel with the work of the implementation group, each Minister has been given overall responsibility for the decentralisation of his or her Department and of the State agencies for which he or she is responsible. The Minister in each case established a decentralisation unit in his or her Department which reports to the management advisory committee of that Department and to the Minister. All decentralising departments and agencies have appointed decentralisation liaison officers.

The Flynn group submitted the report of the decentralisation implementation group to the Government at the end of March 2004. The Government approved the terms of the report which has been published and which contained several key recommendations. These include the setting up of a web-based integrated transfer system called the central applications facility, or CAF, to allow people to apply for transfer to decentralised locations and to rank their preferences among those locations. Work proceeded very quickly to turn the plan into reality. The CAF was launched on 12 May 2004 by the Minister for Finance and will remain in operation until such time as all the locations are fully subscribed, but those who apply within a period of eight weeks after the system goes live will receive preference over those who apply after that period. The eight-week period will finish on 8 July 2004. The information gathered through the CAF in the period up to 8 July 2004 will be analysed and passed on to the implementation group, thus providing it with a very valuable input for its next report. The Government sees the CAF as one of the cornerstones of the overall implementation process and the next phase of implementation.

The group has also recommended that a second system similar to the CAF be developed at a later stage for people whose jobs are being decentralised but who wish to remain in Dublin. Several people have articulated this. It is a totally voluntary scheme and the people who choose not to move can rest assured they will have an opportunity of going onto a similar CAF immediately after the first one finishes. The implementation group also examined the training requirements for decentralisation and made recommendations in this area. One such recommendation is the provision of a series of workshops and seminars for decentralising organisations to provide a structured forum to build understanding of the training and development issues involved in the new programme. Last month CMOD organised and ran the first of these workshops for key representatives of decentralising organisations. The workshops were very well received by the attendees who represented 55 organisations. The group also considered that the Department of Finance should develop an overall decentralisation training plan. This would identify areas suitable for common responses, options for skills transfer and for mainstreaming the training across organisations.

At the same time, the group asked that each decentralising Department and agency prepare its own implementation plan for submission by the end of May 2004. The plans are to include a detailed listing of all issues to be addressed in terms of people, property and business, with appropriate indicative timelines, an outline of the processes already in place to be developed plus the products to be delivered under each heading. Each plan should take account of the organisation's review of business process and service delivery methods. The plans should incorporate specific risk assessment and mitigation strategies. They should avail of suitable project management tools and include appropriate monitoring provisions. These initial implementation plans will require further development as additional information emerges in regard to the people, property and business issues identified in the implementation group's report. In addition, key trainers should be put in place at an early stage in every organisation which is scheduled to decentralise. The information contained in these plans will, together with the material from the CAF and property information, form a major part of the group's next report.

In the area of equality, the group felt that the opportunity afforded by decentralisation should be used to re-emphasise the importance of equality issues. I confirm the Office of Public Works will, in line with its existing policy, ensure that best practice in regard to universal access to buildings is incorporated into the specifications for new buildings.

I assure the House, in keeping with the group's suggestions, that every opportunity will be taken to promote and widen the use of existing family-friendly and work-balance schemes in determining working arrangements in a decentralised service.

In budget 2001, the Minister for Finance allocated €12.7 million for the provision of Civil Service crèches. The allocation was part of a wider Government policy to increase the number of child care places. Five such crèches are currently in operation, two in Dublin and one each in Ennis, Athlone and Sligo. The implementation group felt the future direction of the Civil Service crèche initiative needed to be reviewed in light of the decentralisation programme. The availability of pre-school child care facilities in the decentralised locations, whether within the workplace or otherwise, needs to be addressed. The group considered that this review should take account of the scope for achieving the necessary critical mass in terms of demand and commercial viability by examining possible joint ventures with other public service employers in the relevant locations and private sector employers in those centres.

Based on the group's recommendations, an interdepartmental committee has been set up to examine and report on the provision of child care in decentralised locations. This committee is examining the scope for the provision of further Civil Service workplace crèches in some decentralised locations as part of the child care initiative and suitable pre-school child care in other locations.

In December 2003, at the request of the implementation group, the Office of Public Works invited proposals for the provision of office accommodation in the 53 locations announced on budget day. This was done through advertisements in national newspapers. By the closing date of 16 January 2004, approximately 700 submissions had been received. Since that date, officials from the OPW have been analysing these proposals on the basis of the criteria agreed by the decentralisation implementation group and using an agreed marking system. All negotiations with the vendors of properties are being handled by the OPW.

To date, a number of properties have been secured. I am sure Senator Bannon will be delighted to hear the site for the Prison Service headquarters has been acquired from the local authority. I congratulate the——