Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 233: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of civil or public servants who have agreed to relocate under the Government's programme of decentralisation; the costs involved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33533/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To date, over 10,500 applications have been received on the central applications facility, CAF. New applications continue to be received each week. Since the closing of the priority application period on7 September 2004, an average of over 20 new applications have been received each week over the past 14 months. The CAF remains open and continues to accept applications.

When details of the Government's decentralisation programme were first announced in budget 2004, it was stated that the overall objective would be to ensure that property being acquired at a regional level be matched as closely as possible, both in time and in cost terms, by the disposal of property currently held in the Dublin region, whether held on lease or otherwise. In November 2004, the implementation group submitted a report on the procurement methodology and financial assessment of the property aspects of the programme, including a financial model, based on a property finance study carried out by the Office of Public Works. While the prevailing property market conditions in each area will have a bearing on cost, this model indicates that the break even position with regard to property will be reached in 2026.

The total amount committed in principle to date by the Office of Public Works on site acquisition costs, excluding VAT, is approximately €35.7 million. Expenditure to date this year is €9.9 million. The programme is being implemented on a voluntary basis. There are no redundancies and, as on previous occasions, the payment of removal or relocation expenses will not arise.

With regard to other non-property aspects of the programme, a report was prepared byDeloittes at the request of the implementation group. This report provided a model for identifying non-property costs and savings that might arise both during the relocation phase and in the context of a post-decentralised Civil Service. Decentralising organisations have now been asked to use this model to make periodic reports identifying costs incurred and savings made since the programme was announced and going forward.