Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 522: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of civil servants who will be transferred to Mullingar in the decentralisation programme; the grades and numbers of staff required to have her Department operating fully; the percentage of staff by grade in the Department who have indicated a willingness to transfer to Mullingar; and the number of staff by grade who have indicated they are not willing to transfer. [31742/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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A total of 301.5 whole-time equivalent posts will transfer from my Department to Mullingar as part of the Government's programme of decentralisation. Apart from the Secretary General and the members of the management advisory committee, MAC, it is estimated that the following posts are required in order to carry out the portion of the business of my Department that will be conducted from Mullingar:

14.5 Principal Officer, PO, posts,

30.5 Assistant Principal Officer, APO, posts,

58 Higher Executive Officer/Administrative Officer posts, HEO/AO

70 Executive Officer posts, EO

6.5 Staff Officer posts, SO

67 Clerical Officer posts, CO

9 Service Officer posts

1 Attendant post

2 Telephonist

8 Cleaner

27 Professional/Technical grade posts.

In addition to this the Secretary General, with a number of the members of my Department's MAC, will be based in Mullingar.

The following percentages of those applying to decentralise by grade are based on the information available to my Department from the Public Appointments Service, PAS, on first preference priority applications through the central applications facility, CAF, to decentralise with my Department to Mullingar and those new entrants who have undertaken to decentralise to Mullingar as a condition of employment:

PO 6.0%;

APO 16.37%;

HEO/AO 8.21%;

EO 6.91%;

SO 11.67%;

CO 6.21%;

Service Officer 6.84%;

Attendant 0%;

Telephonist 0%;

Cleaner 0%;

Professional and Technical grades 0%.

The PAS has not furnished my Department with details of those who have applied to decentralise to Mullingar as their second to tenth preferences priority applications or with details of those applicants who have made non-priority applications, namely those who applied through the CAF after 7 September 2004.

Application for decentralisation through the CAF is a voluntary process and it remains open to any member of my Department to apply to decentralise to Mullingar. In these circumstances we are not yet in a position to indicate the number of staff by grade who have indicated definitively that they are unwilling to decentralise to Mullingar.