Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 318: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of persons in posts due to decentralise who have been reassigned to other positions; if the central application system promised to facilitate those wishing to remain in Dublin has been established; the number of vacancies that have been notified to it for filling; the number of applications it has received for those posts; and the reason so little progress has been made in this dimension of redeployment. [5220/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Over ten thousand six hundred civil and public servants have applied to relocate under the Decentralisation Programme. At the end of December 2006, over 2,400 staff had been assigned to decentralising posts. Some 700 of these are currently in place, in 15 new locations, while the remainder are being trained in advance of decentralisation to a new location, as soon as accommodation becomes available. It is envisaged that by the end of 2007 public services will be delivered from 33 of the decentralisation towns with approximately 2,000 staff transferred. The precise numbers moving within that time frame will depend on the availability of property as well as timeframes for completion of fit out and installation of necessary ICT (information communications technology) and telecommunication cabling and equipment.

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, in organisations who are remaining in Dublin, 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.

In addition, 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. Following detailed discussions with the civil service unions, the precise operation of these arrangements has recently been amended to improve their overall effectiveness. The aim is to achieve a close alignment between the assignment of staff to Dublin posts and the readiness of Departments to release staff at particular grade levels. In that context, Departments and Offices have been asked to update their returns to the Public Appointments Service. The information sought by the Deputy will be furnished as soon as that exercise is completed. Discussions are ongoing with the unions representing professional & technical staff in the Civil Service on this issue.

The position in relation to the State Agencies is of course more complex and further complicated by the absence of any tradition of or agreement on inter-changeability between Public Service organisations and between the Public Service and the Civil Service. Progress has been slower than I would have wished in advancing agreement between management and trade unions on the issues involved. It is my strong view that they can only be resolved through dialogue and negotiations and my Department is pursuing directly with ICTU proposals for getting central discussions underway on the full range of industrial relations issues relating to the decentralisation of State agencies.