Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 49: 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. [24902/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The primary mechanism for placing general service 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. It is expected that a significant number of staff will be placed through these bilateral arrangements as the programme is rolled out. To end June 2006 in excess of 1,700 staff have been assigned to decentralising posts, of which over 800 are Dublin based applicants.

In addition, officials of my Department have agreed arrangements with the general service civil service unions which are facilitating the placement of Dublin based staff. Under these arrangements, details of staff who wish to remain in Dublin at each grade level are provided to the Public Appointments Service so that a proportion of vacancies arising in Dublin based posts may be filled by those staff. It is intended that these arrangements will continue over the full transition phase of the decentralisation programme.

Participation in these arrangements by Departments and Offices will be influenced by their timeframe for moving, their success in placing staff through the bilateral arrangements, whether they are relocating in full or in part and the extent to which their staff can be placed elsewhere within the organisation in Dublin.

This issue is the subject of ongoing discussions between my Department and the unions representing the professional and technical grades in the civil service.