Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 769: To ask the Minister for Social and Family 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. [2609/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Government's decentralisation programme for the civil and public service, some 1,210 posts comprising the Department's headquarter sections and the Social Welfare Appeals Office are relocating to 6 locations — Sligo, Carrick-on-Shannon, Donegal, Buncrana, Carrickmacross and Drogheda. In addition, the Combat Poverty Agency and Citizens Information Board are scheduled to relocate to Monaghan and Drogheda, respectively, under the programme.

Since the introduction of the Central Application Facility (CAF) in May 2004, 1,812 employees of the Department have applied to decentralise of whom 729 are based in Dublin. A total of 521 employees in the Department are currently in their decentralising posts, 360 of whom are Dublin based. Some 346 employees have already relocated with the Department to their new decentralised location, of whom 175 were Dublin based.

The current indicative timeframe available to the Department is:

Buncrana — End 2009

Carrickmacross — 2010

Donegal — 2010

Drogheda HQ — 2011

Drogheda IT — No indicative timeframe

The Office of Public Works (OPW) is charged with securing accommodation for the decentralisation programme. The latest information from the OPW for this Department is detailed in Table A.

In relation to Carrickmacross and Donegal, it is understood that the Office of Public Works are in the process of acquiring sites.

The Office of Public Works has confirmed that there are no current applications for planning permission in their direct name. In the case of all projects associated with the Decentralisation Programme, planning permission, where required, is sought at an early stage of the procurement process. Where buildings are being procured on a Design and Build basis, the matter of obtaining a satisfactory planning permission is the responsibility of the preferred tenderer who has been selected for the particular project.

Table B outlines the budget allocation per year for decentralisation and the costs incurred to date by this Department.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 770: To ask the Minister for Social and Family 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. [2996/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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To date, 177 posts have relocated from the Department's Dublin Offices to Carrick-on-Shannon and Sligo. These posts were filled by 65 Dublin based staff and 112 provincially based staff.

In addition, a further 146 employees, of whom 111 are Dublin based and 35 are provincially based, have transferred to this Department's existing decentralised offices in Dundalk, Letterkenny, Longford, Sligo and Waterford to fill vacancies created by the current decentralisation programme.

In addition to the above, 201 employees of the Department have transferred to other Government Departments under the programme of decentralisation, of whom 91 were Dublin based employees.

A further 32 posts will decentralise from the Department's Dublin Offices during 2008 — 27 posts to Carrick-on-Shannon and 5 posts to Sligo.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 771: To ask the Minister for Social and Family 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. [3010/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Government's decentralisation programme for the civil and public service, some 1,210 posts comprising the Department's headquarter sections and the Social Welfare Appeals Office are relocating to 6 locations — Sligo, Carrick-on-Shannon, Donegal, Buncrana, Carrickmacross and Drogheda. In addition, the Combat Poverty Agency is scheduled to relocate 25 posts to Monaghan and the Citizens Information Board is scheduled to relocate 47 posts to Drogheda under the programme.

The number of officers who had transferred to offices of the Department outside of Dublin under the decentralisation programme was 79 at 31st December 2006 and 346 employees had transferred at 31st December 2007.

Since the introduction of the Central Application Facility (CAF) in May 2004, 1,812 employees of the Department have applied to decentralise. Currently, a total of 521 employees in the Department are in their decentralising posts and 346 employees have already relocated with the Department to their new decentralised location.

To date, 177 posts have relocated from the Department's Dublin Offices to Carrick-on-Shannon and Sligo. In addition, the Department has decentralised offices in Longford, Sligo, Letterkenny, Waterford, Dundalk and Roscommon and a further 169 employees have transferred to these offices and other offices of the Department, to fill vacancies created by the current decentralisation programme.

In addition to the above, 201 employees of the Department have transferred to other Government Departments under the programme of decentralisation.

A further 32 posts will decentralise from the Department's Dublin Offices during 2008 — 27 posts to Carrick-on-Shannon and 5 posts to Sligo.

Both agencies, the Combat Poverty Agency and the Citizen's Information Board, are committed to decentralising to Monaghan and Drogheda. At this time there is no indicative date for the transfer of the Combat Poverty Agency to Monaghan. The indicative timeframe for the relocation of the Citizen's Information Board to Drogheda is 2011.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) is charged with securing accommodation for the decentralisation programme. The value of purchases on behalf of the Department are outlined in Table A.

The sale of properties is the responsibility of the Office of Public Works.

The Office of Public Works has confirmed that there are no current applications for planning permission in their direct name. In the case of all projects associated with the Decentralisation Programme, planning permission, where required, is sought at an early stage of the procurement process. Where buildings are being procured on a Design and Build basis, the matter of obtaining a satisfactory planning permission is the responsibility of the preferred tenderer who has been selected for the particular project.

The costs incurred from 2004-2007 in relation to decentralisation for this Department are outlined in Table B:

There are 10 staff in the Department administering the decentralisation programme.

The latest indicative timeframe for the completion of the decentralisation programme in the Department is 2011.