The cost of the Government's plan to transfer 10,000 civil servants out of Dublin by the end of 2009 is running dangerously out of control and must be curbed, Fine Gael has charged.
Yesterday, the Department of Finance and the Minister of State for the Office of Public Works, Mr Tom Parlon, rejected charges that the decentralisation plan is in trouble.
Acknowledging that new offices for the 10,500 officials affected will cost €900 million, the Department of Finance said this is "the estimated gross cost of procuring sites and office accommodation.
"The actual costs will become clear as decisions are made on further phases of the programme and as tenders are received for the individual projects," said Department of Finance official Mr John Conlon in a letter to The Irish Times.
Mr Parlon said the €900 million bill would be offset by sales of existing offices in Dublin: "Already the Office of Public Works has sold €100m worth of property this year.
"We intend to bring in another €100 million next year. And in each of the following years we expect to bring in close on €100 million," he told RTÉ's News At One programme.
Rejecting charges that the Government is scaling back the plan, Mr Conlon said the Flynn report primarily covered the transfer of 3,500 civil servants to 20 locations, and plans to move 2,200 more soon.
Despite charges made separately by the Department of Finance and Mr Parlon, yesterday's Irish Times report did not claim that the offices for 3,500 officials would cost €900 million.
Instead, the opening paragraph of the report said "the costs of the Government's plan to move 10,500 civil servants out of Dublin have escalated rapidly, according to Department of Finance documents released on Budget day".
In October, Mr Parlon told the Oireachtas Finance and Public Service Committee that the plan would cost €815 million in today's terms, if it were to be completed immediately. "That would be the cost if we were to pay for it all on a once-off basis," Mr Parlon told the committee's chairman, Fianna Fáil Laois/Offaly TD, Mr Seán Fleming.
He said the €815 million would exclude "the cost of information and communication technology and specialised equipment requirements".
Describing the €815 million figure as "indicative", Mr Parlon said: "I made it very, very clear to that committee that was if we used industry norms. The State will not be held to ransom by any developers."
However, Fine Gael TD Mr Phil Hogan rejected Mr Parlon's arguments and quoted from documents released by Mr Charlie McCreevy when he unveiled the decentralisation plan last year.
One reads: "The overall objective will be to ensure that property being acquired at regional level is matched as closely as possible, both in time and in cost terms, by disposal of property currently held in the Dublin region, whether held on lease or otherwise."
Mr Hogan said Mr Parlon is "trying to sow confusion" because it was never made clear that the decentralisation plan would cost the Exchequer €500 million or more. It was supposed to be self-financing. What we are now discovering is that the Government will be hit with serious penalties if they break leases on property in Dublin."
