Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 906: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the sections of her Department based outside Dublin which will be moved to other non-Dublin locations under the decentralisation programme; the location from and to which officials are being transferred; the numbers and sections involved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10536/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has already decentralised with offices in Tullamore and Athlone.

There is also a network of regional offices set up throughout the country. Under the Government's decentralisation plan, the Dublin offices will be moved to either Athlone or Mullingar, with 300 staff moving to Mullingar and 100 staff moving to Athlone. This will be done in two separate phases while at the same time maintaining existing services. In planning how the organisation should be structured post-decentralisation, the criteria to be applied includes minimising the disruption to existing decentralised locations. However, as part of optimising the future structure of the Department, there is an opportunity to integrate business units where there is a high degree of interaction or co-dependancy and where these units are split among different locations. While there may be some movement from existing decentralised locations where there is a business case to be made for such a move, the overall numbers in each location will remain constant.