Decentralisation plan fails to move civil servants
Sunday January 04 2004
THE Government faces huge problems attracting 10,300 civil servants prepared to move to the country under Charlie McCreevy's decentralisation plan.
In the Department of Agriculture, a proposed move to Portlaoise has been virtually ignored. An internal survey found just 36 out of about 1,200 Dublin-based staff want to move to Portlaoise.
Outside Dublin, there has been a similarly lacklustre response from agriculture staff. Just 80 out of a total workforce of 4,800 civil servants in the department want to go to the new HQ.
Minister of State Tom Parlon erected billboards outside Portlaoise proclaiming "Civil Servants: Welcome to Parlon Country".
The response appears to be "Thanks, but No Thanks."
It also raises the spectre that the taxpayer will have to fund redundancy packages of up to €100,000 for senior staff who don't want to relocate and who, because of the specialised nature of their current jobs, can't be transferred to other departments.
Similar surveys are now under way in other departments but there are strong indications the McCreevy plan could turn into a logistical nightmare. To make up the numbers, wholesale inter-departmental transfers may be considered.
Department of Defence spokesman Jack McConnell said there has been a "steady stream of enquiries" from staff in other departments interested in working in Newbridge, the proposed new HQ for Defence.
A similar survey is under way in the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, which is destined to move to Cavan.
The closing date for responses was December 22 but a spokesman said the final results have not yet been tallied because of the holidays.
However, a senior official in the Department of Communications told the Sunday Independent that feedback so far was "very low key". "I think they will have a problem getting the numbers," she said.
Both Education and Environment said that briefings were planned for the next few weeks. The OPW said the first real indication of numbers interested in the move won't be clear until spring.
Minister McCreevy wants eight government departments and several State agencies moved outside Dublin in the biggest decentralisation plan ever attempted here. His aim is to move at least 8,500 staff within three years, with the rest following later.
The Taoiseach and Mr McCreevy ruled out compensation with the Finance Minister referring to the money to be made by selling homes in Dublin for less expensive houses in the provinces.
In two weeks' time, the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants will hold a special meeting to decide on a formal response to the plan.
