The Government's decentralisation programme is an "unworkable mess" and should be radically reviewed, the State's biggest public sector union Impact claimed yesterday.
Impact said the programme would have a "massive negative impact on public services" and impose huge costs on the taxpayer.
In an analysis published yesterday, the union said only 15 per cent of specialist civil servants, and even fewer State agency staff, had volunteered to move.
This posed "insurmountable problems" in organisations that depended heavily on specialists because these could not be replaced by other public servants.
It said the cost alone of keeping technical and professional civil servants in Dublin after their posts had been relocated would be between €51.1 million and €65.6 million a year.
It said the Department of Finance had still not explained what these specialist staff would do in Dublin after their jobs had moved.
Its 20-page analysis is titled: Why Decentralisation Isn't Working - the Cost and Service Implications of Decentralisation.
Announcing its publication, Impact national secretary Louise O'Donnell said the union was not against decentralisation in principle. However, the Government needed to "change tack" if decentralisation was truly one of its priorities.
"The scale and timetable needs to be radically reviewed to ensure that decentralisation can happen in ways that promote genuine economic development while delivering value for money and quality public services."
Impact represents over 1,000 civil servants and more than 600 State agency staff, most of them professionals, technicians or other specialists, whose posts are to be decentralised under the Government programme.
Attempting to relocate such specialist posts created "unique and insurmountable" problems, the union claimed.
It said only 158 of its specialist Civil Service members whose jobs were due to be decentralised were willing to move, while 876 had opted to remain in Dublin.
"If decentralisation goes ahead as currently planned the Civil Service will need to recruit 876 additional specialists to carry out existing functions in new locations," the analysis said.
"Meanwhile, 876 specialists will continue to be employed in Dublin without alternative work."
Ms O'Donnell said not a single post had yet been moved in spite of the initial pledge in 2003 to have the programme completed within three years.
Impact said the Government should consider new measures if decentralisation was to move "from paralysis to reality".
These included removing organisations from the programme where it was clear that decentralisation was not a practical or cost-effective option, and lengthening the timetable for the programme.
