Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern has said he is very pleased with the progress of decentralisation of Irish Aid to Limerick even though only five aid specialists have agreed to move.
Irish Aid manages the €500 million annual overseas development aid programme - due to rise to €1.6 billion by 2012 - as a division within the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The 124 jobs in the division are due to be relocated to Limerick city by June of next year. However only five of its 24 aid specialists and 35 of its total staff have agreed to go. A further 16 staff from the wider department have applied to transfer to Limerick.
Secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs Dermot Gallagher said last month that the small number of aid specialists willing to move posed a considerable challenge to the decentralisation plan. The specialists' experience in aid programmes meant they could not be replaced by other civil servants.
However, Mr Ahern told an Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday he was more than happy with the uptake for the move.
"We are very pleased with how the decentralisation programme is going. Substantially, the senior management will be in place probably by the autumn. I'm more than happy with the uptake which is upwards of 40 per cent."
Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen said he was concerned that the "intellectual memory" of Irish Aid could be lost if the specialists decided not to move.
