Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 179: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will make a statement on the number of posts that have been decentralised to date, and of those, the number that have been decentralised from Dublin, and their grades; the number that have opted to remain in Dublin, and their grades; the number of those that have moved to another Department or agency in Dublin; and the number that have been decentralised from outside Dublin to other locations, and their grades. [40709/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I can inform the Deputy that my Department's decentralisation programme has made excellent progress. To date, five hundred and fifty posts have moved and there is a presence in all of my Department's seven locations. This represents 60% of the overall target number. Out of this total, two hundred and fifty seven of the staff were from Dublin and two hundred and ninety three moved from provincial locations.

The grade breakdown is set out in the following table. The information in this table is notable in two respects; firstly contrary to media comment and speculation, very significant numbers of staff at senior level in Dublin offices have opted to move to provincial locations. Secondly, the number of staff opting to move from within provincial locations have been predominantly those in the junior and clerical grades.

It would not be feasible in the timeframe available to specify the numbers and grades of the staff who have been re-assigned in Dublin, arising from decentralisation. I can confirm, however, that all the Dublin based staff whose posts have been decentralised and who have opted to remain in Dublin, have been re-assigned to posts within my own Department and with other Departments.