Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 249: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the extent to which decentralisation proposals for his Department have been achieved to date; the costs involved or pending; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24828/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Following the announcement of the Government's decentralisation programme in the 2004 Budget, the Department, which has a staff of 131 excluding the National Archives, was designated an "early mover" by the Decentralisation Implementation Group, (DIG). To date, 76 staff have relocated to temporary accommodation in Fossa, Killarney, in three tranches, 45 staff in September 2006, 25 staff in July 2007 and 6 in May 2008. The objective is to complete the decentralisation process by the end of 2008 at which time the Department will be operating from new purpose built offices in Killarney.

Excluding the cost of accommodation, the total cost of decentralisation incurred by the Department to the end of May 2008 is estimated at €532,000. This includes the cost of office machinery, office and premises overheads, postal and telecommunications services and travel and subsistence. The OPW are responsible for costs relating to both the temporary and permanent accommodation and therefore these do not fall within my Department's Vote. It is anticipated that there will be some additional costs associated with the move to the new building but these are unlikely to be significant and should be capable of accommodation within existing budgetary resources.