Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 244: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of posts decentralised to date as part of his Department's decentralisation programme; the location of the decentralised posts in each case; the corresponding number of posts that have been reduced from his 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. [19658/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am delighted to say that my Department's decentralisation programme is fully on target. It is scheduled to run until 2009 and will involve the relocation of 885 posts to seven locations. By the end of this month, over 240 staff will have taken up duty in my Department's decentralised locations. The Private Security Authority (25 posts) is up and running in Tipperary, and the Garda Central Vetting Unit (35 posts) is already operational in Thurles. The Property Registration Authority (Land Registry) now has 45 staff in Roscommon, with more to follow later this year. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (23 posts) moved to Portarlington in December 2006. An advance party of five staff from the Equality Authority took up duty in Roscrea in May 2007, with an a further 15 to take up duty in Roscrea before the end of this year. The Irish Prison Service is in the process of moving to its new headquarters in Longford and one hundred and eleven staff will have taken up duty there by the end of this month.

Other moves due to take place before the end of this year include the decentralisation of another 37 posts from the Garda Civilian HR Unit to Navan and 43 posts from the Fixed Charge Penalty Office to Thurles. Consideration is also being given to an advance move of up to 50 posts from the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) to Tipperary town, subject to the availability of suitable accommodation. By the end of this year, my Department will have moved over 400 posts and will have a presence in all seven decentralised locations.

The net impact on Dublin based posts is broadly neutral. However, in a small number of cases, decentralisation has coincided with changes in policy that have given rise to the creation of additional posts, e.g. the expansion of the Garda Central Vetting Unit to cater for an increased workload, and the establishment of new bodies such as the Private Security Authority and the National Property Services Regulatory Authority.