DECENTRALISATION is impairing the ability of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to hire new staff and senior civil servants have complained of being under "extreme pressure" as a result.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show senior civil servants have been complaining about the problem for more than two years and have been forced to hire consultants to work on key projects.

The principal officer in the department's Communications Development Division, Ken Spratt, warned in November 2006 that his section was going to have to drop projects or get them moved to other sections.

Just days after taking up his brief in August 2006, Mr Spratt was told "staffing issues are all tied up in decentralisation programme".

An e-mail from a human resources executive says: " . . . in essence we cannot get staff from outside unless they sign up to go to Cavan and there [are] simply little or no volunteers for that. We are fast approaching major difficulties throughout the department and will be raising these matters with finance in near future."

The e-mail goes on to say that immediate replacements cannot be hired and there is no immediate way of overcoming the problem.

The following month, Mr Spratt resumes the dialogue by detailing various senior staff he has lost and writes, "I'm in a very uncomfortable situation".

The documents reveal the National Broadband Scheme (NBS) had no civil servants working on it, due to a "bar on recruitment" of new staff. A memo from Mr Spratt described the lack of resources as "disappointing, unacceptable and unsustainable" and said he would have to explore other avenues for securing the resources required to meet the demands of the section.

Last night, a spokeswoman for the department denied there was a bar on new recruitment but said sections have to operate within an "authorised staff numbers cap".

The administration of the NBS, which is providing State aid for the provision of broadband services to the approximately 10 per cent of the country not currently serviced, was effectively outsourced to regulator ComReg.

This seems to contradict a briefing document prepared in advance of an RTÉ Primetime documentary on broadband last February. In this, the department states the NBS "is not lacking any financial or human resources and is on target to meet its June 2008 implementation date".

The scheme is the subject of a judicial review that was heard in the Commercial Court yesterday. Satellite broadband provider National Broadband is challenging the department's decision not to include satellite providers when drawing up a map of broadband coverage. Mr Justice Brian McGovern has reserved judgement in the case.

In September 2007, the Public Service Executive Union questioned the department's decision to hire a former training intern (stagiare) as a consultant on the NBS. Stagiares are recent graduates who are given a fixed-term contract to gain experience.

While broadly supportive of the Minister for Communications, Eamon Ryan, telecommunications executives have expressed concern that he has become too focused on the energy and natural resources side of his brief. Despite the severe staffing shortages in the communications division, the department overall has 20 staff over its quota.

A spokeswomen said that, as a result of decentralisation, there was overlap in certain roles as departing staff were retained to train their replacements.

The documents were published on the department's website this week following a Freedom of Information request from a member of the public.

Staff difficulties
"Staffing issues are all tied up in the decentralisation programme - in essence we cannot get staff from outside unless they sign up to go to Cavan and there simply were little or no volunteers for that.

"We are fast approaching major difficulties throughout the department and will be raising these matters with finance in near future." - e-mail from human resources officer to Ken Spratt in August 2006, days after he takes over as principal officer in the department's communications development division and seeks additional staff

"Various recent developments have given rise to extreme pressure on existing staff within my area . . . again, due to the existing bar on recruitment of new resources to the department, I have no civil servant working on the National Broadband Scheme." - January 2008 memo from Mr Spratt to Assistant Secretary Peter O'Neill and human resources department requesting additional resources

"The Dept headcount is +20 over quota so it is imperative for the record that we are in agreement with HR on our vacancy numbers." - Subsequent e-mail sent to Mr Spratt from another civil servant on January 28th, 2008