10,300 workers to be affected

Decentralisation The Government has decided to decentralise 10,300 civil servants to 53 centres around the country, beginning in March of next year.

The plan will involve moving eight Government departments, including ministers, to all 25 counties outside of Dublin, it was announced in the Budget.

Ministers are to be given office suites in Dublin to allow them to remain in contact with their departments when attending the Dáil or on Cabinet business.

Civil servants will relocate voluntarily. Those who do not move will be redeployed to the remaining seven Dublin-based departments. No relocation allowance or disturbance money will be paid.

The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, said he envisaged that the number of civil servants affected could be as high as 12,000.

The departments to move are: Agriculture and Food, the headquarters of which will relocate to Portlaoise, Co Laois; Arts, Sport and Tourism, the headquarters of which will relocate to Killarney; Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, which will relocate to Cavan; Community Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, which will relocate to Knock, Co Mayo; Defence, which will relocate to Newbridge, Co Kildare; Education and Science, which will relocate to Mullingar, Co Westmeath; Environment, Heritage and Local Government, which will relocate to Wexford; and Social and Family Affairs, which will relocate to Drogheda, Co Louth.

The Office of Public Works, which comes under the remit of the Department of Finance, will move to Trim, Co Meath. The largest number of job moves announced yesterday, more than 900, were assigned to Co Cork, while the smallest number, 110, were assigned to Co Monaghan. The average per county was about 358, while the destination of some 1,335 jobs has yet to be announced.

Mr McCreevy said the programme represented a "radical change of culture", which would represent a departure from the "Dublin mind-set" as "policy will no longer be made in Dublin".

He also announced yesterday the membership of a decentralisation committee set up to drive the project. It will be chaired by the former general secretary of IMPACT, Mr Phil Flynn.

The other members of the committee are: Mr Dermot Quigley, former chairman of the Revenue Commissioners; Ms Jane Williams, managing director of the business consultancy Sia Group; Mr Fred Devlin, a chartered surveyor; Mr Eddie Sullivan of the Department of Finance; and Mr Seán Benton, chairman of the Office of Public Works.

In addition, a joint Department of Finance/OPW unit will be established to support the implementation committee and to liaise with departments. Each minister will also establish a dedicated decentralisation unit within their own departments. The operation is to be overseen by a Cabinet sub-committee and €20 million has been set aside for "up-front" costs.

According to Mr McCreevy, the decentralisation will benefit balanced regional development, with the new jobs being created in provincial areas identified for development by the National Spatial Strategy.

The Minister said decentralisation would benefit "economically, socially or environmentally", while there would be "very significant" benefits for civil servants through "reduced commuting time and lower house prices". He said locations in each county had been carefully selected for development as "viable clusters" and to "avoid the pitfalls of fragmentation".

The Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, said there was a "deliberate bias" in the National Spatial Strategy to shift development away from Dublin, which was reflected in the proposals.

"The decision to cluster department and agency offices in adjacent towns allows for a natural build-up of people and communities away from Dublin, into the regions".

The Government had delivered on balanced regional development, he said.