Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 526: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the annual costs incurred by his Department in the implementation of the decentralisation scheme for each of the past four years, broken down between property and non-property costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35547/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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My Department submits a quarterly return to the Decentralisation Implementation Group detailing the non-property costs of the programme. To the end of June 2008, the last reporting deadline, the costs reported for the programme to date amounted to €147,031 (see table for details by year). Figures for the third quarter will be available at the end of October.

The acquisition of property for the decentralisation programme is dealt with primarily by the Office of Public Works (OPW) and they have supplied the following details of the site acquisition at the two locations that have been approved by Government to proceed.

Although sites had been identified at both Fermoy and Macroom, the two locations deferred until the 2011 review, no property had been purchased. The Clonakilty offices are due to be completed in Quarter 1 2009, at a cost of approximately €21m.

Pending delivery of the permanent accommodation, the OPW has leased accommodation for the Department in Portlaoise on a temporary basis, as set out in a table.

Pending delivery of the permanent accommodation, the OPW has leased accommodation for the Department in Clonakilty on a temporary basis, as set out in a table.

Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 527: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the progress made by his Department on implementing the decentralisation scheme, including the number of staff who have moved under the scheme and the property bought or rented outside Dublin under the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35562/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The original Government decision on the decentralisation of my Department was that 600 headquarters staff would move to Portlaoise; some 100 staff in the local offices in Cork city would move to Fermoy; and up to 100 staff in the laboratories in Cork and Limerick would move to Macroom. Fisheries joined the Department in 2007 and the move of that function of my Department to Clonakilty is now substantially complete with 84 staff having moved there since the programme began. The decision regarding state agencies was that Bord Bia would move to Enniscorthy and Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) would move to Clonakilty.

Following the decentralisation announcement in the Budget 2009, the moves to Portlaoise and Clonakilty (including BIM) were approved by Government to proceed. The moves to Fermoy, Macroom and Enniscorthy have been deferred pending a review in 2011.

My Department's original Decentralisation Implementation Plan allowed for a phased move 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 its original plan and in total, since the programme was announced, there has been an increase of 297 full-time posts in Portlaoise bringing the total number there to almost 500. 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.

The acquisition of property for the decentralisation programme is dealt with primarily by the Office of Public Works (OPW) and they have supplied the following details of the site acquisition at the two locations.

The Clonakilty decentralisation offices are due to be completed in Quarter 1 2009, at a cost of approximately €21m.

Pending delivery of the permanent accommodation, the OPW has leased accommodation for the Department in Clonakilty on a temporary basis, as set out in a table.