Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 205: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of posts decentralised to date as part of her Department's decentralisation programme; the location of the decentralised posts in each case; the corresponding number of posts that have been reduced from her Department's Dublin offices to date; and the overall net loss or gain in terms of post numbers as a result of the decentralisation of these posts. [19652/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Four hundred (400) Dublin based posts in my Department will relocate under the programme of decentralisation. One hundred posts (100) will relocate to Athlone and 300 posts will relocate to Mullingar. The Athlone element of the decentralisation includes a re-organisation which will reunite a section in Athlone, which has been divided between Dublin and Tullamore since decentralisation to Tullamore in 1995. Those officers in Tullamore whose posts will move to Athlone will be re-assigned to posts to move from Dublin to Tullamore. Almost all of the 400 posts to move from Dublin will relocate when office accommodation is ready for occupation in Athlone and Mullingar respectively.

The provision of accommodation under the programme of decentralisation falls within the remit of the Office of Public Works (OPW). The OPW has indicated to the Decentralisation Implementation Group that it anticipates that new office accommodation will be ready in Athlone next year and that it should be ready in Mullingar sometime in 2009.

To date, my Department has been able to facilitate 24 CAF (Central Applications Facility) applicants with direct transfers to posts in its offices in Athlone and Tullamore or one of its regional offices outside of Dublin, as posts became available due to other transfers under the CAF.

In addition, it will be possible to move up to 8 posts from my Department's office in Tullamore to the office in Athlone this year as a small amount of accommodation has become available in the existing offices in Athlone. This will allow for the movement of a corresponding number of posts from Dublin to Tullamore. This will reduce the number of posts in Dublin and will result in no net gain or loss associated with decentralisation.