An Oireachtas committee considering the Government's decentralisation proposals may seek an independent assessment of their merit. Michael O'Regan, Parliamentary Reporter, reports.
The suggestion was made by the Independent senator, Mr Joe O'Toole, at yesterday's hearings by the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service.
At the conclusion of submissions from groups representing civil and public servants, Mr O'Toole said: "I would like to get neutral information put in front of us. Let us put to the test the issues which have been raised by speakers and by the Government. At this stage, we seem to be looking at another good idea, like e-voting, which has been messed up in its implementation."
The committee chairman, Mr Seán Fleming TD, said that an all-party report would be compiled when the hearings finish in the autumn. "Maybe part of the process may involve employing a consultant."
Meanwhile, the report by the decentralisation implementation group, chaired by Mr Philip Flynn, will be issued at noon today on the Department of Finance's website.
Yesterday Mr Liam Berney of ICTU told the committee that congress as an organisation, and the affiliated unions, were in no way opposed to the concept of a decentralised public and civil service.
"However, the scheme, announced in the Budget last year, has caused some significant concern on the part of congress. As you will hear from representatives of our affiliated unions, the manner in which the scheme is to be implemented has raised serious concerns on the part of congress."
He added that congress had raised "business case" issues. "We have posed some very significant questions on how the organisations will function in a decentralised capacity." He said its concerns had not been addressed in discussions so far with the Department of Finance. "We are very seriously concerned that the public service will greatly suffer as a result of the proposal currently envisaged."
He added that the scheme would be "far from voluntary" for some people.
Ms Patricia King, regional secretary of SIPTU, said her union represented those in the state agencies.
She claimed that the proposal denied the voluntary option. Her union had taken legal advice which said that if the place of employment of State agency workers was moved, they were effectively dismissed under the terms of the redundancy payments act.
"That is a serious, serious difficulty for the workers we are representing."
Mr Tom Geraghty, deputy general secretary of the Public Service Executive Union, said his union represented just under 10,000 members in every Government Department, and five of the State agencies affected by the proposal.
His union's concern, he said, related to the people affected.
"I cannot avoid making the observation that it is a pity the Government did not take up our suggestion before making specific decisions to ascertain how many people were interested in decentralising and where to."
Mr Geraghty characterised the reaction of some of his members as "ranging from apprehension to sheer terror".
Mr Mick Coffey, joint general secretary of the Federation Union of Government Employees, said his union represented non-clerical grades in the civil service.
Declaring that the proposal was "far too ambitious", he said it would mean a loss of earnings for his members because they currently received allowances, including rostered overtime.