Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 51: To ask the Minister for Finance the negotiations which have taken place regarding the placement of persons who do not opt to decentralise with their units or agencies; and the proposals which the Government have made to unions. [12519/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The primary mechanism for placing civil servants who are in posts which are due to decentralise but wish to remain in Dublin is by way of bilateral transfer. As staff who have applied to decentralise continue to be transferred into decentralising organisations, the posts they vacate become available to those wishing to remain in Dublin. To date, in excess of 1,200 staff have been assigned to decentralising posts.

In addition, my Department has been in discussions with the Civil Service unions on further arrangements to facilitate the placement of Dublin-based staff. The Public Appointments Service has commenced the operation of a system which will match Dublin-based posts with people wishing to remain in Dublin. Any decentralising organisation which anticipates that it will have staff wishing to remain in Dublin who cannot be placed within the organisation will engage with the Public Appointments Service in the placement of these individuals. Each individual affected or likely to be affected will be offered the opportunity to indicate preferences on Dublin-based posts.

These arrangements have been recently initiated for general service grades and discussions are continuing in respect of appropriate arrangements for professional and technical grades. It is intended that the arrangements will continue over the full transition phase of the decentralisation programme. Regular discussions are continuing with the unions on the implementation of the entire decentralisation programme, including the details of these arrangements for the staff remaining in Dublin.