For Dick O'Driscoll, the information officer of the Central Statistics Office - now decentralised to Cork - the move from Dublin has been a good one. From Kimmage originally, he was 49 years of age when he opted for the decentralisation programme in 1994 with his Galwayborn wife, Bridie.
He had been an official of the Department of Justice until 1993. He and Bridie had come to believe that the quality of life in Dublin was deteriorating - what with traffic issues, crime, etc. Then, the decentralisation opportunity arose. Longford was an option but Cork also came up and, having known the city a little and liked it, the decision was to go for it. Ideally, the O'Driscolls - who don't have children - were looking for a home with a rural setting and some land adjoining it. The main thing was they wanted it to be not too close to, but not too far from, the city. They found it almost adjacent to the Monkstown Golf Club in Cork, which has majestic views of farming country and Cork Harbour. But even more importantly, getting to work would not be too difficult. Bridie is a keen gardener and their half-acre site gave her endless opportunities to pursue that passion.
As it prepared its decentralisation programme, the CSO found that it did not have enough volunteers to remove to Cork. The alternative was to invite people in similar grades to swap, if they so wished, with people of similar grades in other areas of the Civil Service.
Dick and Bridie O'Driscoll found the swap they wanted. He went to the CSO and a CSO official who wished to remain in Dublin went to the Department of Justice. Decentralisation is about options for making a new life, and an attempt by government to bring new prosperity to the regions. It marks, too, the fact that everything is possible with modern communications - nowadays, getting from the region to the centre is just a matter of pressing a button.
"And we're glad we made the move. Things are more relaxed, people here have more time for you and we can get to work in 15 minutes coming through just a couple of traffic lights. When the Lee tunnel is completed, I will be able to get to the office without having to go through any traffic lights," he says.
Waterford-born Michelle O'Reilly was working in the Civil Service Commission in Dublin but had moved into the Department of Fisheries and Forestry as it then was. She took a career break in the US for five years. Then she and her husband, John, also a civil servant, decided to join the CSO exodus to Cork in 1994.
They and their two girls, Nichole (eight) and Katie (five) are delighted that they made the move. Like the O'Driscolls, they wanted to find a home in a semi-rural setting, yet close to the city and the office.
The CSO decentralised offices are in the Mahon area of Cork and the O'Reillys found their home near Passage West, also in the harbour area. Michelle says that the move had no great consequences for the children because they were so young. She says they have no regrets about coming to Cork, where the atmosphere is less frenetic than in Dublin. They are living in pleasant surroundings and are within striking distance of John's family home in Bantry and her own in Waterford.
She adds: "It has worked out very well; we're delighted we came down."
