Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 181: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of civil and public servants on a county basis who have been relocated in accordance with the Government's programme for decentralisation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18906/05]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As part of the Government's current decentralisation programme it was decided that 250 of my Department's core staff will be relocated to Carlow. The Department was identified as an early mover in the third report of the decentralisation implementation group, which gave an indicative timeframe of the second quarter of 2008 for completion of the Department's new building in Carlow. The current position is that the OPW is close to completing a site acquisition in Carlow town centre and construction is due to commence in the second quarter of 2006.

While no staff of my Department have moved to Carlow as yet, I am confident that we will meet the deadline set by the decentralisation implementation group, with some 300 staff relocating to Carlow once the building has been completed. The decentralisation programme also includes the relocation of four of my Department's agencies to Birr, Arklow, Thomastown and Shannon, namely, FÁS with 383 staff, National Standards Authority of Ireland with 132 staff, the Health and Safety Authority with 110 staff and Enterprise Ireland with 292 staff, respectively. The current position is that no staff have yet been relocated by any of my agencies. Both FÁS and the Health and Safety Authority have been recommended in the third report of the decentralisation implementation group for priority attention in terms of implementing their decentralisation programmes and they are working towards progressing this recommendation. While indicative timeframes for moving Enterprise Ireland and the NSAI have not yet been set by the decentralisation implementation group, both agencies are working towards relocating to their new locations. In the autumn of 1998, prior to the current decentralisation programme, my Department re-located the Patents Office from Dublin to Kilkenny. This involved 63 staff relocating to Kilkenny city at that time.