Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 128: To ask the Minister for Finance the position of the Government's policy on decentralisation and relocation; and his views on the impact this policy is having on the morale of several agencies, in particular semi-State bodies. [19205/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Firstly I would like to state the Government's full commitment to the decentralisation programme.

There has been a substantial amount of media coverage in recent times in relation to the decentralisation programme. Much of that coverage has been speculative and most of it has been misinformed. This Government is working towards full implementation of the decentralisation programme and I am satisfied with progress to date on a number of fronts including CAF take-up, property acquisition, assignments of staff etc.

In relation to the State Agencies, the Decentralisation Implementation Group took the view that it would not seek to dictate every step in the process to the management of those organisations. Although the Group proposed a group of State Agencies for early mover status it did not include specific timeframes in recognition of this approach and also of the fact that it is the responsibility of the board and senior management of each agency to implement Government policy. The Group stated in its June 2005 report that each agency included in the programme should have a successful relocation as a high level strategic objective and should prepare the next and deeper iteration of its implementation plan. In the meantime, the OPW is continuing to seek property solutions in respect of any agency that requires it.

It is recognised that little progress has been made in advancing agreement between management and trade unions on allowing both public and civil service staff to transfer into State Agencies from the civil service and other State Agencies and vice versa. There has been little substantive engagement to deal with these and other human resource issues relating to the relocation of the organisations concerned. In many State Agencies the number of applicants is influenced at least in part by the overall position on Decentralisation adopted by unions representing staff in those organisations.

Resolution of the outstanding issues is central to the overall implementation process in the State Agencies. There is no question of this element of the Programme not proceeding. From the outset guarantees have been provided at Government level that all those employees not wishing to transfer out of Dublin will be facilitated with an alternative public service post in Dublin. It should prove possible to facilitate the transfers of those public and civil servants who wish, also on a voluntary basis, to relocate to provincial locations.

It is recognised that proposals for inter-organisational mobility go against traditional employment practices but it is precisely this type of ground-breaking initiative which is needed to give impetus to the implementation of the programme. While the Civil Service has had the opportunity to develop an understanding of the decentralisation process over the years, this has not perhaps happened to the same extent with State Agencies.