Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 558: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the number of civil servants and other public servants in his Department who had been decentralised from Dublin to other locations by the original deadline for the completion of the plan of December 2006; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33049/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The estimate for completion of my Department's Decentralisation Implementation Plan was originally 2008, to coincide with the initial estimate of the availability of the permanent accommodation. The Plan allowed for a phased movement to Portlaoise and the 2005, 2006 and 2007 advance phases of decentralisation to Portlaoise were completed on schedule. To date, the Department has met its targets as set out in the Plan.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) announced last December that a consortium, the Macquarie Partnership, has won the tender for the project to build the permanent offices in Portlaoise (as part of a public private partnership including offices in Mullingar and Carlow) and planning permission for the new building has now been granted. A revision to the Department's Decentralisation Implementation Plan is now being considered, to reflect the changes to the timetable and the progress so far, as well as the evolving operating environment. An additional advance phase has been agreed and planning and preparations for this phase are currently underway.

Separate implementation plans for Fermoy and Macroom are in place. The plans allow for a phasing of the recruitment of staff but no physical move until the permanent accommodation is in place. In total there has been an increase of 297 full-time posts in Portlaoise and 84 in Clonakilty since the programme was announced; the move of the Fisheries function of my Department to Clonakilty is now substantially complete. At the end of 2006, 187 full-time posts had moved to Portlaoise and 24 had moved to Clonakilty.