Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 609: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of civil and other public servants based in Dublin in his Department and agencies who have applied for decentralisation, who have been transferred to their decentralised post and are currently in position in the decentralised location outside Dublin; the number of civil and other public servants required for decentralisation under plans; the original and expected date for full decentralisation to be in place; the locations together with details of properties and land owned, purchased or planning permissions sought for the construction of premises for decentralisation; the costs incurred to date; the original budgeted for and expected total costs to be incurred for decentralisation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2606/08]

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 611: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of civil servants and other public servants who have decentralised as at 31 December 2006 and the current date broken down into individual Government Departments and agencies; the number required for full decentralisation, broken down under individual Departmental and agencies plans; the number of currently decentralised locations in operation; the agencies with no progress; the values of properties purchased and sold in respect of the decentralisation process to date; the other costs incurred to date with the decentralisation process, broken down by category; the number of Departmental staff involved in administrating the decentralisation process since its inception; the number of planning applications in progress in relation to building decentralised premises and planning applications to be submitted, broken down by location and planning submission date; the original budgeted and the expected total costs to be incurred for decentralisation; his further proposals in this regard; the expected date for completion of the full decentralisation process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3007/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 609 and 611 together.

Under the Government's decentralisation programme, the Development Cooperation Directorate of the Department of Foreign Affairs, which is Irish Aid's Headquarters, will decentralise to Limerick. In November 2004, following recommendations from the Government's Implementation Committee, the Department was included in the first phase of moves under the decentralisation programme, with a projected timeframe of the first quarter of 2007 for the move.

In Autumn 2004, the Department set up a dedicated decentralisation unit as part of the Corporate Services Division to handle the administration of the decentralisation programme particularly from a staffing perspective. This unit liaises with the staff in Irish Aid assigned to handle the logistics of the decentralisation programme. The staffing levels between these two units have varied from a high of 5 full time officers to the current level of 3 officers.

Good progress has been made to date, and personnel have either been assigned to, or identified for, 103 posts or approximately 83% of the 124 posts scheduled to be decentralised. An advance party involving 56 staff has already decentralised to interim office premises in Limerick, with most officers being in place since May 2007. It is expected that the remaining staff of Irish Aid will transfer to Limerick in June 2008 on completion and fit-out of the permanent accommodation.

According to the latest figures available to the Department, 134 Dublin-based officers of this Department have applied to decentralise. Twenty-eight of these applied to decentralise with this Department to Limerick and 18 of these are have already transferred to this location. One hundred and six officers applied to transfer with other Departments to their decentralising locations.

Twenty-four Dublin based-officers of this Department have transferred to other Departments with a view to moving to a provincial location under the Decentralisation Programme. Fourteen of these officers initially transferred to Dublin-based offices of the respective decentralising Departments and 10 transferred directly to a provincial location.

In regard to planning permissions and costs relating to premises, both the interim offices in O'Connell Street and the permanent accommodation in Henry Street Limerick have been provided for the Department by the Office of Public Works (OPW).

The ancillary costs associated specifically with decentralisation have been paid for out of the Department's normal administrative budget. They include: €195,000 initial set-up spending on items such as the purchase of IT equipment and office machinery, additional telecommunications costs for interim premises; €15,000 decentralisation training allowance paid to 5 officers required to transfer from a provincial location to Dublin for training, for a period of up to 8 weeks each, prior to relocating to Limerick. Further costs in relation to the decentralisation training allowance will be kept to a minimum and are not expected to exceed €45,000; An estimated €113,000 on the cost of two additional ICT help desk engineers based in the interim premises in Limerick from May 2007 to June 2008. Following the permanent move, these costs will be in the region of €56,000 annually; and Approximately €213,000 on the forthcoming ICT fit-out of the permanent accommodation.

Additional communication costs (including line rental) between Irish Aid in Limerick and the rest of the Department are estimated at €55,000 per annum

This Department has no other decentralised locations and no agencies due to decentralise.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 610: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of civil servants and other public servants, who have relocated to locations outside of Dublin under the Government's decentralisation programme; the estimated number of each category who will have relocated by the end of 2008; the breakdown of each set of figures in terms of those who are relocating from Dublin and relocating from elsewhere; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2993/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Government's decentralisation programme, the Development Cooperation Directorate of the Department of Foreign Affairs, which is Irish Aid's Headquarters, will decentralise to Limerick. Good progress has been made and personnel have either been assigned to, or identified for, 103 posts or approximately 83% of the 124 posts scheduled to be decentralised.

An advance party involving 56 staff has already decentralised to interim office premises in Limerick. It is expected that the remaining staff of Irish Aid will transfer to Limerick in June 2008, on completion and fit-out of the permanent accommodation.

Fifty of the officers who have already transferred to Limerick were Dublin-based applicants and the remaining 6 were from provincial locations. Of the remaining 47 staff already identified for Limerick, 15 are currently based in provincial locations and 32 are Dublin-based applicants.

Twenty-four Dublin based-officers of this Department have transferred to other Departments with a view to moving to a provincial location under the Decentralisation Programme. Fourteen of these officers initially transferred to Dublin-based offices of the respective decentralising Departments and 10 transferred directly to a provincial location.

In addition, 2 officers, based in the Passport Office Cork, transferred directly to their chosen decentralised location.

Additional staff may transfer to other decentralised or decentralising locations with other Departments throughout 2008. The total of these additional staff is difficult to quantify as the timing of such moves is dependent in the first instance on the other Department.