Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 562: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of civil servants within his Department who have transferred to offices outside Dublin under the decentralisation programme to date; the percentage of those who had a previous transfer within a two year period of the decentralisation transfer; the number of those people who transferred from a non-Dublin office to a Dublin office in the initial transfer; the average time spent in the Dublin office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6690/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I refer to the reply to Question No. 64 of 8 November 2006.

Under the Government's decentralisation programme all Dublin based operations of my Department are being decentralised, with the exception of Met Éireann, ENFO, the Private Rented Tenancies Board and a small co-ordination section which it is proposed to retain in Dublin to assist with the Department's Dáil and other business. The programme involves the relocation of my Department's operations to four locations in the South East: Wexford, Waterford, New Ross and Kilkenny.

As outlined in the most recent Progress Report (September 2006) from the Decentralisation Implementation Group, the indicative timescales for the completion of the Department's offices in Wexford, Kilkenny, New Ross and Waterford are Quarter 3 2008, End 2008, Quarter 4 2009 and Quarter 3 2010 respectively. To date no civil servants from my Department have decentralised to any of these four locations. My Department is, however, establishing an advance office in Wexford comprising about 40 staff; it is anticipated that this office will be established in the middle of this year.